Kolkata, August 02: Angry transport operators attacked government-run buses and held protest rallies in the city on Saturday as the West Bengal government commenced its drive to phase out transport vehicles older than 15 years, in accordance with a Calcutta High Court order.
Most autorickshaws, some private buses, and taxis went off the roads, causing hardship to commuters. Six buses were damaged by protestors at three locations in the city.
The culprits were reportedly autorickshaw owners protesting the High Court’s order to phase out all two-stroke autorickshaws in the city. However, both the Trinamool Congress and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-backed autorickshaw unions traded blame for the attacks.
Vehicles seized
“We have decided to abide by the High Court’s directive and not incite violence, according to our leader Mamata Banerjee’s order. Today’s violence was caused by the CITU, who are now blaming us,” said Sovan Deb Chattopadhyay, senior Trinamool Congress leader and president of the Save Auto Committee.
The police set up six checkpoints across the city to screen vehicles, and seized three taxis, one bus, and one autorickshaw. Six trucks were also seized from the neighbouring districts.
Many buses, taxis, autorickshaws, and trucks stayed off the roads on the day fearing seizure by the police. Though the impact was not completely felt since it was the weekend, the dearth of public transport is set to cause more inconvenience for commuters from Monday.
Drive to continue
“The drive will continue for the next few days. The police will ensure the safety and security of those public vehicles which have valid papers,” Jawed Shamim, Joint Commissioner (headquarters) of the city police, said.
New buses planned
After two rounds of meetings at the State Secretariat, which were attended by the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, and top police personnel, Transport Secretary Sumantra Chowdhury said the government will run additional buses from Monday. He also said that by the end of August, West Bengal would get 100 new 90-seater buses.
Mr. Chowdhury said the State Advocate General Balai Ray has said that about 10,000 autorickshaws made after August 2000 could be run after converting them to LPG autos. For this, applications would be received over the next week.
Most of the vehicle operators are now looking forward to August 4, when the petitions they filed with the Supreme Court for a stay-order on the phase out directive will come up for hearing.
—Agencies