Maitree Express hiccups
Bangladeshi and Indian customs have turned down a request by the railway authorities of both the countries to launch onboard customs checking on the Maitree Express.
The request was part of the initiative taken by the railway officials of the two countries to make the train service between Dhaka and Kolkata financially viable.
Bangladeshi customs officials rejected the request at a meeting held recently at the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
"Such customs checking will give rise to smuggling and Bangladesh's customs authorities now run short of manpower to handle onboard cheeking," an NBR official said.
Maitree Express was launched on April 14, 2009 -- the first day of the Bangla New Year -- amid much fanfare. But a year later, the train now does not have enough passengers and those who use the service have to wait for six to seven hours at customs check points.
The railway officials also requested the NBR to allow passengers from many stations instead of only Dhaka and hold customs checking at the last station, the official added.
A similar request was also placed before the Indian customs authorities to make the trans-border train service more viable.
A high-level meeting on implementation of the Bangladesh-India joint manifesto held at the Prime Minister's Office with Mashiur Rahman, economic adviser to the prime minister, also discussed the matter and asked the NBR to act on it.
The falling passenger count has forced the railway authorities to drop a 108-seat buggy from the train, which started with seven buggies to carry around 400 passengers.
However, private bus operators, such as Shohag, Shyamoli, Saudia and Green Line, are doing brisk business on the same route.
Most passengers on the Maitree Express are irked by the five-hour wait for immigration and customs clearance at the border stations of Darshana and Gede on the 538-km journey -- 418km in Bangladesh and 120km in India.
Bangladesh's railway officials have requested their Indian counterparts to slash the time by at least two hours -- one hour on each side -- that would reduce the journey time to 11 hours from 13 hours.
Railway service between Kolkata and the Bangladeshi cities of Dhaka, Chittagong and Barisal continued even after the subcontinent's partition in 1947, but it was suspended after the India-Pakistan war in 1965.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments