India and Bangladesh will finalise the passenger bus service between Guwahati-Dhaka via Shillong during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh next month, a Bangladeshi official said here on Monday.
The proposed bus service, which covers approximately 500 km, will traverse from Guwahati via Shillong and then proceed to the southern slopes of Meghalaya's Dawki international trading before entering Tamabil (Bangladesh)-Sylhet-Dhaka route.
"The final decision to start the Guwahati-Shillong-Dhaka passenger bus service will be decided by both the governments (India and Bangladesh) during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Dhaka next month," Bangladesh Road Transport and Highways Division Joint Secretary Azharul Islam Khan told journalists here.
Khan, who is leading a 22-member Bangladesh delegation for the trial run of the passenger bus service, said an agreement and a protocol were also likely to be signed between India and Bangladesh before the service was introduced.
On May 22, Bangladesh officials started the trial run of the bus service on a Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation bus from Dhaka but failed to reach Assam's Guwahati city on time due to bad road connectivity.
Khan said the passenger bus service will be a "win-win situation" for people of both the countries.
India and Bangladesh presently have two regular bus services, one between West Bengal's Kolkata and Dhaka and the other between Tripura's Agartala and Dhaka.
