The inaugural run of the historic Kolkata Dhaka Agartala bus route on Thursday turned nightmarish when the bus could not even trundle out of Nabanna from where Chief Minster Mamata Banerjee was to flag it off in the presence of the deputy high commissioner of Bangladesh Zokey Ahad.
The Chief Minister described introduction of the bus route as a historic event but soon after she ended her speech it was discovered the bus had a technical snag.
The media contingent and youth affairs minister Aroop Biswas, who were in the bus on its maiden journey were shifted to a spare bus which travelled up to the Airport where they waited.
The media contingent was told by transport department officials accompanied them that the Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus was being repaired. However, the bus could not reach the place where the media contingent and minister were waiting till and a new bus was arranged for them around 8 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reacting to The Statesman report Thursday on the handling of the coverage of signing of the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh on 6 June enquired about the bungling.
The Statesman had reported the media from the West Bengal could be allowed to cover the only bus journey and not the signing. The state transport secretary Alapan Bandhopadhay had briefed the media on 3 June and that the MEA clearly told the state government that the media contingent from West Bengal travelling in the bus on his inaugural run would be allowed to cover the flagging off ceremony at Dhaka on 6 June.
It has been learnt that a mechanical fault developed soon the bus driver of the Kolkata Dhaka Agartala switched on the ignition.
The West Bengal State Surface Transport Corporation (WBSTC) tied up with a franchisee to run this bus on this new route. Abani Kumar Ghosh, franchisee of the bus said that his company purchased a Volvo bus worth Rs 1 cr and it had a completed a trial run. It has also been learnt that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also flag off the journey of this bus from Dhaka to Agartala.
An official source said that technical fault developed as a hooter was installed for that bus. No official comment was available on this issue. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said during inaugural programme of the bus that the state government has proposed to the Centre for running more buses to Bangladesh on new routes.

The Statesman/ANN