Ranchi, Feb. 27: After 15 years of wait, people of Jharkhand may now look forward to a direct bus ride to Agra, Allahabad, Varanasi and other prominent cities of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

For, the Jharkhand government has finally initiated steps to establish much sought-after and long pending bus links with its largest neighbour in a move that, if succeeds, will benefit passengers as well as transport operators, paving the way for seamless connectivity between the two states that will boost trade, tourism and cultural exchange.

The transport department today issued notices to all state-based bus operators in this regard, seeking their suggestions to give this proposal a proper shape.

Transport secretary Ratan Kumar said that except Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand currently had bilateral road transport agreements with all the neighbouring states, namely Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Bengal.

"We are pursuing it seriously now and a few rounds of talks, through letters, have already been held with our counterparts in UP. The exchanges have been positive so far," he said.

Asked what kind of suggestions were they looking for from the bus operators, Kumar said: "We basically want to know about route specifications, preferred destinations for operating buses, among other details, for better planning. The inputs will help us decide on the actual demand and also frame a formal proposal for putting up before our counterparts in UP."

The official added that a team led by the transport commissioner would be sent to UP anytime after March 15 to take forward the discussion and finalise the things.

But what hindered direct bus services between the two states so far? The secretary didn't wish to delve on why it wasn't done before.

Kishore Mantri, general secretary of both Jharkhand Bus Owners' Association and Ranchi Bus Owners' Association, said lack of interest on part of the previous governments was the sole reason. The operators had been demanding permits for UP routes for long, but they suffered in the absence of any transport agreement between the two states, he added.

"Demand for UP is huge as places like Varanasi and Allahabad, among others, have both religious and educational importance. But till date, there is no direct bus connectivity between Jharkhand and UP. Train is the only solace. Though some operators run buses to UP from a few parts of the state, they are mostly illegal, which causes huge revenue losses to the state's exchequer," said Mantri, hoping the initiative wouldn't suffer bureaucratic hurdles.