As Dhaka burns, many Bangladeshis in Calcutta are clueless about when they can return home. Trains between Calcutta and Bangladesh are getting cancelled, flight tickets are being rescheduled and hotel bookings by those stranded in the city are getting extended.

The indefinite shutdown, following deaths related to quota protests, in the neighbouring country has thrown a spanner in travel plans.

US Bangla Airlines had hundreds of passengers rescheduling tickets for Saturday and Sunday from Calcutta to Bangladesh, said an official. The airline operates two daily flights between Calcutta and Dhaka and one between Calcutta and Chittagong.

“Many passengers, scheduled to travel this weekend to Bangladesh, have rescheduled their tickets to Monday and Tuesday. About 200 passengers, scheduled to fly on Saturday and Sunday, have rescheduled their tickets,” the US Bangla Airline official said on Friday.

Biman Bangladesh, which operates two daily flights between Calcutta and Dhaka, had 90 per cent occupancy on its Dhaka-bound flights on Friday. “There were about 10 cancellations on Thursday and a few cancellations have taken place for Saturday and Sunday,” said an airline official.

A group of Bangladeshis on Marquis Street Bishwarup Dutta

The train that connects Calcutta and Dhaka has been cancelled.

“The Maitree Express left Chitpore at 7.30am on Friday but it was stranded at Darshana in Bangladesh for nearly three hours from 9.45am,” said a railway official.

The train that was to leave Dhaka for Calcutta was cancelled later in the day.

“The train will remain cancelled on Saturday as well. The Chitpore-Khulna Bandhan Express, a bi-weekly train, has been cancelled for Sunday,” the official said.

Bangladeshis staying in hotels and guest houses in the Free School Street-Marquis Street area are frantically looking for tickets for buses and trains to return home.

“Several hotel bookings have been cancelled for the coming week and those who are staying here are extending their stay,” said Monotosh Sarkar, an official at Marquis Street Free School Street Welfare Society that manages the visit of Bangladeshis to Calcutta and their stay here.

The shutdown of internet services in Bangladesh has only worsened their plight.

Jahirul Islam Shawn was pleading with two men at the Free School Street counter of a bus operator. He was scheduled to return to Bangladesh on Friday but the carrier has grounded its fleet in the wake of the violence there.

Shawn came to Calcutta with his grandmother, Ruksana Begum, 63, who suffers from a problem in the spinal cord. She underwent a check-up at a private hospital off EM Bypass.

“We were supposed to return today. The carrier said it would try to give me tickets for Saturday. But now they are saying it is not possible. I requested them to arrange for a drop to the border. I will make my own arrangements from there. We have relatives near the border. But I am told nothing can be done,” said Shawn, a government employee who lives in Narayanganj.

One of the men at the counter said: “What can we do? The buses have been stranded at the border for over five hours.”

Shawn got a refund and went to another counter looking for tickets.

Md Manik, 65, from Dhaka, tried in vain for two return tickets. He had brought his wife to Calcutta for treatment.

“We had planned a four-day trip. Today is our fifth day. Our funds have almost exhausted. The Internet shutdown means my relatives cannot transfer any cash. I exchanged whatever I was left with. I don’t know what to do after this,” said Manik, who spoke to this newspaper standing outside a currency exchange counter near the intersection of Kyd Street and Free School Street.

As it rained on Friday afternoon, a group of Bangladeshis was waiting outside an eatery. They were discussing the situation back home.

“Reaching the airport or the bus stop may be possible. But how to get home from there?” asked one of them.

The lives lost were mourned. “People who have died are in their early 20s. My brother is 21. This is no way to die,” said another.

Md. Mahnur Alam, a resident of Dhaka, had bought an air ticket for Saturday, costing around ₹14,000. “The normal price is around ₹7,000. But I have to return home. I have not been able to get in touch with my family since Thursday afternoon,” said Hassan.

Afreen International, one of the many guest houses on Free School Street, had around 25 Bangladeshi guests on Friday.

“Most of them are worried about when they will be able to return home,” said a man at the reception.