Bus ride to Kathmandu, Thimpu from Siliguri soon

Debashis Konar,TNN | Sep 14, 2015,  KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government is planning to introduce bus services to Bhutan's Thimpu and Nepal's Kathmandu from Siliguri soon. The new service is expected to start during the Puja. However, the state transport officials are not sure about the deadline since the clearance from the ministry of external affairs (MEA) is awaited and talks are still on with the two nations.

Since the buses will be run on a reciprocal basis, officials from both Nepal and Bhutan need to be consulted before finalizing the inauguration date. The Bengal government, sources said, is planning to ply the buses on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Siliguri. The bused will return to Siliguri from Thimpu and Kathmandu on the subsequent days. However, a senior official ruled out the immediate possibility of running the bus service from Kolkata. "No talks in this regard has so far been held with Nepal and Bhutan. Also, the MEA officials need to be consulted," he said. 

The distance between Siliguri and Kathmandu is around 660 km via Kankarvita and the officials feel that the bus will have to travel for at least 16 hours, including the two-hour time expected to be taken during the immigration and Customs' check. Officials said that the ticket will be priced at Rs 1200, again they are looking for approval of the Centre, as Centre's approval is needed. The bus from Siliguri is expected to leave at around 2 pm from the Tenzing Norgay bus terminus and reach Kathmandu around 6 am the next day. 

Thimpu is about 330 km from Siliguri and it will take around 8 hours to cover the distance, including the immigration check. The ticket price for the Thimpu trip will be around Rs 550. The bus is expected to leave from Siliguri at 6 am and reach Thimpu by 2 pm. 

The state is planning to use 40-seater Volvo buses for the Kathmandu journey and 26-seater buses, much smaller than the Volvos, for the journey to Thimpu. AC buses with Wi-Fi facility and vehicle tracking device will be pressed into service. A trial run will be held soon. 

It might be mentioned that Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi had jointly launched the Kolkata to Agartala bus service at Dhaka along with Sheikh Hasina in June. Recently, the motor vehicles agreement for the regulation of passenger and cargo vehicular traffic through Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) has been signed. The state is willing to introduce buses to Bhutan and Nepal Sources said tenders have been floated for bus operators. An official said the bus routes have also received a go-ahead from the ministry of road transport and highways, international co-operation section. Last week Mamata Banerjee had said that she wanted her staff to visit neighbouring countries while availing LTC and for that Bengal tourism department will offer special packages for their tours. 

Officials said that they are getting ready with the buses and also appointing ticketing agents. The tickets will also be available online later. Now, the NBSTC buses from Siliguri are plying up to Jaigaon on Indian border. Indian tourists travelling to Thimpu usually use their cars for the journey and face a number of checks. They need to show their permits issued by the Bhutan officials also. 

The service is expected to help tourists, said NBSTC managing director Subal Chandra Roy. But, he said that it is too early to speak about the two international bus services, as the dates are yet to be finalized.