But officials are optimistic: they say the Lahore bus will be ready to rev up next week and the Dhaka one by April 14, the Bengali new year.

Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), the operators of the Lahore-Delhi bus, reportedly wanted to provide toilet facilities in the swanky imported bus, expected to cost Pakistani Rs 60 lakh. Their Indian counterparts -- Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) -- had not thought of it. ``If they (Pakistanis) provide for a toilet in their bus, we will also need one in our bus. How can we be left behind? It is a prestige issue and we have to be one step ahead,'' said a DTC official.

G S Cheema, Chairman and Managing Director of DTC confirmed that the delay was on account of Pakistan waiting to acquire the ``appropriatebus.'' He said that the service had to start from both Delhi and Lahore simultaneously. ``We are all set. Once they are ready, we are,'' he added. Sources said that exorbitant cost of the imported bus was also a deterrent for Pakistan. The Indian bus, manufactured by Ashok Leyland cost much less (Rs 22 lakh) in comparison. Once ready, the first bus will be flagged off by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

An official in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that they had got the go-ahead from Pakistan and the service will begin ``latest by next week, toilet or no toilet.'' According to his information, the Pakistan bus will have the toilet and there would be no ``immediate'' amendment in the Indian bus, run by DTC. ``The toilet will have to wait for some time,'' he added.

The Calcutta-Dhaka bus is grappling with other problems, among them the feeling that it is getting stepmotherly treatment by the government. A West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation (WBSTC) official said that the condition ofthe road from the Salt Lake depot in Calcutta to the Petrapol international border had become a big embarrassment for them.

``The 80-km stretch on the Indian side is in real bad shape, full of potholes. The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority wants us to metal the road properly. We requested the ministry of surface transport to give us some funds to make a proper highway but they haven't. The 370-km stretch from Bangladesh border (Benapol) is very well constructed, like a super-highway,'' the official said.

That was the reason Bangladesh was willing to run two buses everyday, he said. India agreed to only one bus three days a week, he said. However, a five-km Daulatadia-Arricha river stretch on the bus route on the Bangladesh side was also causing problems. To cross the water stretch, the bus will have to be loaded on to the ferry.

``It is yet to be decided whether there will be a dedicated ferry for the bus,'' a surface transport ministry official said. A couple of trial runs were a must, he added,since the route was not a familiar one.

About the currency, the Indian and Bangladesh authorities have reached an agreement, deciding that payment in local currency will be acceptable. But dollars would be welcome -- a must for foreign travellers. However, the fare is still undecided. India thinks $10 as one-way fare is too little and Rs 800 would be fine, but the Bangladesh government says bus operators on Dhaka-Benapol route charge much less and a high fare would be uncompetitive.

Officials say there are probably as many people looking forward to the Calcutta-Dhaka bus as the Delhi-Lahore bus. More than 2,000 Bangladesh citizens legally visit Calcutta everyday for business and medical treatment.