It was a memorable start to the year 1415. At 7.10 am, on the first day of the Bengali new year, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee flagged off the Kolkata-Dhaka Maitree Express
KOLKATA: It was a memorable start to the year 1415. At 7.10 am, on the first day of the Bengali new year, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee flagged off the Kolkata-Dhaka Maitree Express from Kolkata station at Chitpur, breathing life anew into a service war had cut short.
The train that left Kolkata was packed to its capacity of 368. Railway minister Lalu Prasad, Union broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi and West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi were also present at the event.
But the event was preceded by high drama and tension from Sunday, when the state police recovered four bombs from the tracks at Nadia district in Bengal, through which the Maitree Express is scheduled to pass. Even on Monday morning, the state administration was put on tenterhooks as an agitated group of Bangladeshi refugees in Bengal blocked the Maitree Express’ way just an hour after it left Kolkata. Around 100 Bangladeshi refugees squatted on the tracks at Aranghata, Nadia, demanding immediate rehabilitation.
However, according to the IG (law & order) Raj Kanojia, the blockade was removed within 10 minutes and the train safely reached Gede junction at the Indo-Bangladesh border, from where its journey through Bangladesh will continue. “The police arrested around 90 persons in this connection,” Kanojia said.
Another Maitree Express with 370 passengers aboard left the Cantonment station in Dhaka following a colourful ceremony to mark Poila Boisakh, the new year.
The six-coach Maitree Express will run on a bi-weekly basis, leaving Kolkata every Saturday and Sunday at 7.10am to reach Dhaka at 10.30pm the same day. From Dhaka, the train will resume service at 8.30am and reach Kolkata at 9pm.
The fare chart ranges between Rs320 and Rs800, depending on the class. Till passenger train services were snapped in 1965 due to the Indo-Pak war, there were three services from Sealdah station in Kolkata to different destinations in what was then East Pakistan. These were Barishal Express, East Bengal Mail and East Bengal Express.
r_sumanta@dnaindia.net
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