Bus service between Bihar and Nepal begins
CM Nithish Kumar flag off the bus service between Bihar to Nepal (Photo Courtesy: PTI)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has flagged off the first ever direct bus service between Bihar and Nepal on Tuesday, 11th August 2018. An air-conditioned deluxe bus will link two cities in Bihar – Patna and Bodh Gaya; and two in Nepal – Kathmandu and Janakpur.
“This bus service will further strengthen the relations between India and Nepal. It will prove very beneficial for Buddhist tourists in the two places,” said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar while inaugurating the bus service.
The project is initiated with private partnership that was commissioned after an agreement between India and Nepal. CM went inside the bus and inspected it before launching the service.
Sanjay Kumar Agarwal , Transport secretary of Bihar had attended the joint working group (JWG) meeting in Kathmandu in February. He said that total eight buses would run on the three routes – Patna-Kathmandu, Patna-Janakpur and Bodh Gaya-Kathmandu.
The Bodh Gaya-Kathmandu bus will pass through Gaya, Patna, Hajipur, Muzaffarpur, Motihari, Raxaul and Birganj. It will depart Bodh Gaya at 10 AM and the fare is fixed at Rs 1,250. The Patna-Janakpur bus will pass through Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Bhitta More. Its fare is Rs 400. Fare of the Patna-Kathmandu bus is fixed at Rs 1,015. Each bus has 44 seats for passengers.
Earlier, a direct bus service between Janakpur and Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh on May 11 as part of the Ramayana Circuit was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart KP Sharma Oli.
The Bihar-Nepal bus service was started after two meetings held in Kathmandu and in New Delhi led to the signing of a tripartite agreement between Nepal, the ministry of external affairs and Bihar.
The bus service has become a reality after two meetings held in Kathmandu and in New Delhi and the subsequent agreement between Nepal and the Ministry of external affairs and Bihar state government.
Apart from Buddhist tourists, the direct bus service between Bihar and Nepal will help thousands of people in the Indian state who have relatives and business set-ups in Nepal, said officials