ASSAM (INDIA): This seems Bangladesh! After crossing Bhutan on Wednesday (November 25) we saw plain land lying stretched before us.
Long stretches of paddy fields by the sides of the highway, people with tanned bodies and, more importantly and pleasantly, boards written in Bangla.
Unlike the people of West Bengal, Assamese pronounce Bangla words like the people of Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) rally is now passing through the biggest city of northeast India, Guwahati, situated in Assam.
The province is also popularly known as ‘Land of Kamakhya Devi’. Appearance of the town resembles with any town of Bangladesh but a bit more related to nature and this is why the rally had to take a short break to pave a way to moving herd of elephants.
Guwahati is encircled by hills. There are many areca trees on those hills. Here and there are scattered rain-trees and other species.
The rally flagged off at Ginger Hotel in Guwahati on Thursday morning. It will cross 344 kilometers to reach Silchar. Estimated time to cross the distance is eight hours.
Earlier on Wednesday night, the rally reached Guwahati took part in a seminar ‘Let’s Make Our Roads Safer’, organized by Road Transport and Highways division with the assistance of Toyota at Radisson Blu.
Bangladesh home ministry deputy secretary Nirodh Chandra Mandal described his experience of travelling around 3,000 kilometers of two countries in past 12 days.
On the 12th day, the rally crossed 395 kilometers. The rally crossed 275 kilometers passed through Mongar-Trashigang-Samdrup Jongkhar to the Bhutanese border area Rangia.
Later, it crossed another 100 kilometers inside India to reach Guwahati.
On behalf of Bangladesh government, a group of six members has joined the motor rally under the leadership of 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: 1535 HRS, NOV 26, 2015
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