FROM BBIN RALLY: Love of Agartala residents for Bangladeshis a little bit higher than others. Bengali language people of the Indian province of Tripura accorded reception to Bangladeshis.
Even a person expressed his love to Bangladeshis saying that they always feel Bangladesh. Many showed their willing to take pictures with Bangladeshis.
Tripura police director general K Nagraj flagged off the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) rally from state capital Agartala on Saturday morning.
It will cross 216 kilometers to reach Chittagong after entering Bangladesh through Bilonia border of Feni district.
En-route to Bangladesh, people in Agartala showed their warm greetings to the vehicle that carrying Bangladesh delegation.
Flagging off from Silchar town in Assam province of India, the BBIN rally reached Agartala Friday midnight after the completion of a 290-kilometer tiring journey.
Agartala is known to Bangladeshis as Pakistan government in 1968 framed ‘Agartala Conspiracy Case’ against the then Awami League chief Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 34 others accusing them of conspiring with India to unstable Pakistan.
The case is officially called State vs. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and others, but is popularly known by ‘Agartala Shoŗojontro Mamla’ as the main conspiracy was suggested to have taken place in Agartala between the Indian party and the 35 accused.
The rally comprising of 20 vehicles and 80 delegations from four countries reached Ginger Hotel around 11:30pm where Agartala Rotary Club welcomed the riders.
Estimated time to cross the distance from Silchar to Agartala was eight hours. But it consumed 15 hours to reach the destination.
Friday’s journey was more painful than the previous day. Six hours were needed to cross 40 kilometers dilapidated roads stretching from Silchar to Agartala.
The BBIN friendship rally is expected to enter Bangladesh through Bilonia border of Feni on Saturday (November 28) after crossing Agartala on November 27.
The rally will stay in Chittagong on November 28 and start for Dhaka in the morning of November 29. On November 30, a seminar on BBIN will be held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka.
On December 1, the car rally will start for Kolkata through Benapole and the curtain of the friendship rally will fall down there through a seminar.
However, the BBIN MVA was signed at Thimphu on June 15 this year with the aim of extending road network among these countries.
On behalf of Bangladesh government, a group of six members has joined the rally under the leadership of home ministry deputy secretary Nirodh Chandra Mandal.
The other members of the delegation include second secretary of National Board of Revenue (NBR) Shahidul Islam, Roads and Highways Department deputy director Maqsudur Rahman, director (Port and Customs) Syed M Bathtiar, Shyamoli Paribahan manager Nayon Kumar Ray and Banglanews24.com senior correspondent Mazadul Haque.
BDST: 1224 HRS, NOV 28, 2015
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** BBIN rally now at Agartala
