New Delhi, June 25: The Centre has granted Indian envoy to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi the status equivalent to that of a Union cabinet minister.
An order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday said Trivedi “has been assigned the equivalent status of Union Cabinet Minister in the Table of Precedence (ToP) as a measure personal to him, without amending the Table of Precedence”.
“The position in Table of Precedence is for ceremonial functions only,” it added.
Trivedi, a former Union minister, was appointed as India’s high commissioner to Bangladesh on April 27.
The 76-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader presented his credentials to President Mohammed Shahabuddin in Dhaka on Thursday, marking the start of his diplomatic assignment.
Shortly after the ceremony, Trivedi made his first public appearance at the Indian Visa Centre in Dhaka, where he announced the resumption of travel visas for Bangladeshi nationals.
The travel visas were halted nearly two years ago amid an escalated security situation and strained ties with New Delhi during the Muhammad Yunus-led interim regime.
“I am very happy to be able to announce the launch of general travel visas again. Visa applications can be submitted starting June 28,” Trivedi said.
New Delhi’s decision to send a veteran politician to Dhaka came at a time when both sides are looking at repairing the bilateral ties that came under severe strain during the tenure of Bangladesh’s interim government headed by Yunus.
The relations between the two neighbours witnessed a major downturn after the Yunus-led interim government came to power in Dhaka following the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024.
Trivedi succeeded Pranay Kumar Verma, a 1994-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). (PTI)
