Bangladesh wants Visa office at Guwahati

Guwahati, Sep 16 (UNI) Bangladesh wants to set up a visa office at Guwahati but Indian authorities are 'not so keen' on it.

Former foreign secretary of Bangladesh Farooq Sobhan, an old Indian hand with Ambassadorial assignment at New Delhi between 1992-95, insisted that there should be a visa office at Guwahati, direct flight and bus service between Dhaka and Guwahati.

''But unfortunately Indian authorities are not so enthusiastic about the whole proposals. They have been submitted from Bangladesh side more than a decade back but are now gathering dust,'' said a frustrated Sobhan, a close friend of Union North East Minister Mani Sankar Aiyar from their foreign service days.

It is a paradox that India, which is pushing for the 'look east' policy is by-passing these proposals of Bangladesh when the easiest foreign trade for the region is with the Bangladesh, he said.

In fact former Lok Sabha Speaker and Meghalaya strongman P A Sangma is also talking of a bus service with Tura becoming the biggest hub. For Guwahati-Dhaka bus service Tura will be the mid point.

Later addressing the valedictory function Mr Sobhan put forward more than 25 proposals to enhance foreign trade between the region and Bangladesh.

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