Carriers call off trips to India
Bangladeshi airlines and bus operators yesterday suspended regular passenger-carrying trips to India following India's sweeping travel restriction on foreigners to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
India suspended visas under several categories until April 15 on Wednesday. However, Bangladesh Railway has yet to postpone its Dhaka-Kolkata and Khulna-Kolkata trains as its counterpart has not sent any message in this regard as of last night. A Dhaka-Kolkata train is expected to leave the capital today.
India's decision came amid rising coronavirus cases in the country and the World Health Organization's acknowledgement that the outbreak was a pandemic.
The decision will come into effect at 12:00 GMT today at the port of departure, reads a communique issued late Wednesday night after a meeting headed by Indian Health Minister Harshvardhan.
"In view of existing spread of COVID-19, Government of India has decided that all valid visas issued by the High Commission of India or the Assistant High Commissions of India in Bangladesh on or before 12/03/20 will remain suspended from 13/03/20, 6pm till 15/04/20. No new visas shall be issued from 13/03/20," reads notice on the official website of Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
However, Indian nationals in Bangladesh and Bangladeshis in India would be allowed to go to their countries, an official at the high commission in Dhaka told The Daily Star.
In 2019, India issued 1.5 million visas to Bangladeshis, the most in history. And it has been beneficial for India's economy, reports The WIRE. Of all Indian high commissions in the world, the one in Bangladesh issues the largest number of visas.
The Indian government's announcement dealt a double blow to Biman Bangladesh Airlines which had to cancel around 198 flights on different international routes since January, incurring a loss of around Tk 217 crore, said Mohibul Haque, senior secretary at the civil aviation ministry.
Biman suspended its Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-Delhi flights from today until April 15, said Tahera Khandaker, deputy general manager of public relations at Biman.
She said Biman used to operate 14 Dhaka-Kolkata and six Dhaka-Delhi flights a week.
However, a few flights to India may carry only Indian citizens from Bangladesh to their country, Biman sources said, adding that the flights may also bring back Bangladeshis who are currently in India.
US-Bangla Airlines, Novoair and Regent Airways would also suspend their flights to India, officials said.
The three airlines have contacted Indian authorities for permission to operate a few flights to bring back their passengers stranded in India.
US-Bangla Airlines used to operate 26 flights on Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-Chennai routes every week, said Kamrul Islam, general manager of public relations at the leading private airlines of the country.
Novoair and Regent Airways each used to operate seven flights to Kolkata a week.
Biman earlier suspended its Dhaka-Doha flight until further notice after the Qatar government last week imposed a travel ban on people from 14 countries, including Bangladesh.
On Saturday, the Kuwait government announced a seven-day travel ban on people from Bangladesh and six other countries. Biman then cancelled its flights to Kuwait for two weeks.
Around 28 airlines used to carry between 20,000 and 25,000 passengers to and from Dhaka airport a day. The number has significantly fallen, said Group Captain Touhid-Ul-Ahsan, director of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
No bus would leave the country for India from today, transport sector insiders said.
The last bus of Shyamoli NR Travels left for India yesterday, its Managing Director Suvenker Ghosh Rakesh told The Daily Star.Shyamoli NR Travels operates buses on the five cross-border routes: Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka, Dhaka-Agartala-Dhaka, Dhaka-Sylhet-Shillong-Guwahati-Dhaka, Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata-Agartala and Dhaka-Khulna-Kolkata-Dhaka.
Rakesh said people who bought tickets would get a refund.
Bangladesh Railway was yet to get any message from their Indian counterpart regarding the restrictions until 9:45pm last night, officials said.
"So, we did not cancel any trains," Mia Jahan, additional joint director general of Bangladesh Railway told The Daily Star.
Liton Chandra Dey, manager of Dhaka Cantonment Station, said many passengers had contacted them to know whether they would operate their Friday's trip to Kolkata.
"We told them that we did not change or cancel tomorrow's [Friday's] trip," he told this newspaper yesterday.
Currently, Maitree Express operates between Dhaka and Kolkata on Saturdays, Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Maitree Express has 456 seats and in peak season, the train leaves Dhaka full of passengers while at other times it leaves with at least 300 people, Liton said.
But, the number of passengers fell significantly in the last 15 days, he added.
The operation of Dhaka-Kolkata train service resumed on April 14, 2008, ending the 43-year pause, as two passenger trains named Maitree Express started simultaneously from Dhaka and Kolkata.
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