Agartala: Tripura put on the road a second passenger bus to Bangladesh on Friday to boost trans-border relationship.

The state already operates a bus to Calcutta via Dhaka under its Maitri (friendship) project. This is the second bus under the service.

Flagging of the second Maitri bus, Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC) chairman Rajendra Reang said the corporation was committed to providing quality service and wished the passengers a happy journey.

MLA Ratan Das, who attended the inaugural ceremony, said Tripura shares a fabulous history with Bangladesh and Bengal is a "close relative" of Tripura. He stressed on increasing communication with both the Bengali-populated destinations. He appealed to the corporation's employees to launch an extensive awareness drive to inform passengers about the dos and don'ts of baggage.

"TRTC has come a long way from being the lone transport operator of indigenously developed body of buses. It now offers transport and ticketing services in road, rail and air routes," Das said, adding that it should look ahead for further development and promised the government's help for the purpose.

Both India and Bangladesh operate passenger buses on the Calcutta-Dhaka, Agartala-Dhaka, Calcutta-Khulna, Calcutta-Dhaka-Agartala routes.

Bangladesh operates a bus, Shyamali, that connects Dhaka with Agartala.

The first direct surface communication between India and Bangladesh was the Calcutta-Dhaka bus service, which was started in July 1999. The TRTC started the Agartala-Dhaka-Calcutta bus service in September 2003.