Dhaka: The people-to-people direct contacts, trade and economy between Bangladesh and India will be strengthened further with an increase in bus services between the two friendly neighbours.

Tripura Transport minister Manik Dey said this in Agartal on Friday, according to Indian media reports.

Since 2002, the Tripura government had been demanding direct bus services between Agartala and Kolkata via Bangladesh. The governments of India and Bangladesh held a series of meetings involving Tripura officials.

Four months after India and Bangladesh launched a bus service linking Kolkata and Agartala via Dhaka, Tripura bus operators also began plying the route from Friday fulfilling their long demand.

Tripura Transport minister Manik Dey flagged off the bus service at the Tripura Road Transport Corp (TRTC) international bus terminus depot, reports OneIndia.

A 45-seater Volvo bus, carrying 18 passengers, including two Canadians, left for Kolkata via Dhaka on Friday afternoon.

On 6 June, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and Paschimbanga Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee jointly inaugurated Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati and Dhaka-Agartala-Kolkata bus service at the Prime Minister's Office here.

Hasina, Modi and Mamata got board on three buses and exchanged pleasantries with passengers at that time.

On the inauguration of the services, the Indian PMO tweeted, ‘Increasing people-to-people contact and connecting the two nations...flagging off the bus services.’