Several Bangladeshis, who have come to Kolkata either for medical treatment or education or other purposes, are now stranded in the city and concerned about the ongoing violence and abrupt change of regime in their country.
The Dhaka-Kolkata direct train service resumed on Monday after a gap of four decades as the Moitree Express, with 370 passengers aboard, left the Cantonment Station in Dhaka following a colourful ceremony coinciding with the Bengali New Year celebrations. The service aims to facilitate easy movement between the two countries after 43 years.
The train service will resume soon after the signing of the necessary agreement between India and Bangladesh.
The MV Ganga Vilas will traverse through 27 rivers over 52 days, covering over 3,200 km.
Hitting out at the previous National Democratic Alliance government for poor performance of the railways and inability to pay even Rs 2,473 crore (Rs 24.73 billion) dividend, Prasad said when the United Progressive Alliance government completes its term next year the Railways would have a total surplus of about Rs 1,00,000 crore. It has already generated a surplus of Rs 69,000 crore (Rs 690 billion) in the past four years.
In a major initiative marking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden visit to Bangladesh, two bus services connecting key cities in the two countries were flagged off on Saturday to boost connectivity and enhance people-to-people contact.
The UB Group-owned Kingfisher Airlines said on Wednesday the government had granted it traffic rights to operate on seven new international routes.
A Spicejet flight on Wednesday made a 'priority landing' in Kolkata after a burqa-clad passenger with a man-like physique aroused the suspicion of crew members on board.The Delhi-Kolkata-Dhaka Spicejet flight 208 with 123 passengers on board landed at the N S C Bose Airport in Kolkata around noon, after the pilot was given clearance by the Air Traffic Control to make a priority landing, airport sources said. The aircraft was immediately taken to an isolation bay.
Customs officials, on both sides of the border, need to be caring, hospitable and less fussy. At the Indian border check point at Gede, the Customs officials insisted on thoroughly inspecting the tiffin box of eminent Bengali writer Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. As part of their 'security check', they counted the number of puris in his tiffin box and raised questions about the bananas he was carrying.
Tentatively named as Maitree Express, the train will have 14 coaches, including AC coaches and pantry car and cover about 400 km distance between Chitpur (Kolkata) to Joydevpur (Dhaka) in 14 hours.
The 12-hour bandh was called by the Trinamool Congress against farmland acquisition for a Tata Motors project.
Ahead of Modi's two-day visit, the capital city Dhaka is having a festive look with streets adorned with life-size cutouts of Modi.
Bangladesh, which shares border with five Indian states, has strategic importance for India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit.
The airline reported a loss of over Rs 1,000 crore last fiscal which is five times higher than its 2013 loss.
Ahead of his two-day maiden visit to Bangladesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he was looking forward to it with a great sense of "enthusiasm and delight" as the two sides readied a host of pacts to be signed including one on enhancing connectivity.
The two governments are slated to ink a slew of agreements.
India and Bangladesh have opened a new chapter in their ties as they settled the 41-year-old boundary dispute and promised to do more in other areas amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of a fresh line of credit of $2 billion (Rs 12,821 crore) to the neighbouring country.
Not many people in Bangladesh are talking about the Teesta issue.
