India is taking up talks with Bangladesh for a direct bus service from Agartala to Kolkata via Dhaka, a top bureaucrat said today.

“We have proposed at the diplomatic level for a direct Agartala-Kolkata bus service via Dhaka considering the geographical isolation of many North-eastern states including Tripura,” Secretary of Ministry of Surface Transport and Highway A K Upadhyay said.

The 1,800-km distance between Agartala and Kolkata through Assam and Meghalaya would be reduced to 350 km by bus or road transport and could be covered in a day.

At present there were bus services from Agartala to Dhaka and Dhaka to Kolkata and vice versa, but no direct bus service.

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