While the bus, taxi and auto unions are meeting on Wednesday afternoon to decide on a joint stand against the government, the state government has decided to implement the High Court’s decision in advance from July 25.

“We are all meeting on Wednesday to chalk out our protest. The government may have passed a decision but there are more than one lakh jobs at stake and they will all lose their jobs if the state implements the ban,” said Sadhan Das, president of Joint Bus Syndicate.

“We have already submitted a petition in this regard. We are waiting for the court’s reaction,” said Das.

In spite of the High Court’s directive, the transport department has decided to implement the ban a week in advance to make sure that all polluting vehicles are off the roads from August 1.

The state government had issued a notification on July 17 last year banning the existing auto-rickshaws and public vehicles which were over 15 years old.

In the notification the environment department had banned the existing autos with effect from December 31 last year — by that time all the autos had to be converted to four-stroke LPG mode.

The notification had banned public transport vehicles over 15 years old with effect from March 31 this year.

The Calcutta High Court had upheld the notification on July 18 last year. But this year, on March 18, the court had extended the deadline for conversion of the auto-rickshaws till July 31. Even the time limit on banning the 15-year-old public vehicles was extended from March 31 to July 31.

According to the court’s order public vehicles older than 15 years would not be allowed to ply on the streets after July 31. The environment department had issued the notification with a view that old public transport has been polluting the air by auto emission.

Meanwhile, Sumantro Choudhury, principal secretary, Transport Department, on Tuesday confirmed that the government will start their drive against the polluting vehicles from July 25.

The government has already informed Commissioner of Police Goutam Chakrabarty, along with the district magistrates and superintendents of police to confiscate vehicles older than 15 years. “In Kolkata there are around 2,557 buses; 5,000 taxis and 573 mini buses that are more than 15 years old and they will all be banned from July 25. All autos, except the ones with four-stroke engines, too, will be discarded,” said Choudhury.

Madan Mitra, president of Progressive Taxi Mens’ Association, meanwhile, said they had approached the transport department on Tuesday on the proposed ban.

“We will not call a strike yet as it will cause inconvenience to people. So on July 22, all taxis under various unions will stop working for five minutes at a designated time in protest,” said Mitra.

Mitra said the various unions would hold another meeting on July 28 to discuss further developments. Sobhon Chattopadhyay, Trinamool Congress-led unions’ leader, said that the party would wait for Mamata Banerjee to come back to the city before taking a decision.

“Didi will be here in a couple of days and we will sit with her to decide our stand against the government’s ban,” he said.

In a related development, a petition on night-time pollution in the city has been pending in the High Court. Environmentalist Subhas Dutta had pleaded in the court that pollution level at night was much higher than day time.

Filing an affidavit, state transport department had assured the court last September that it would install remote sensing machines at various locations in the city.

The device can identify the polluting vehicles. However, Dutta has now said that the transport department failed to install the device in the city.

Fallout of Howrah tragedy
Govt ready to scrap commission system, wants salaries for drivers
State Minister for Sports and Transport Subhas Chakrabarty on Tuesday announced that the state government will replace the commission system with payment of salaries to bus drivers and conductors. The government hopes to bring legislation in this regard by the end of this year.

“We want to introduce the system of payment of salaries to private bus drivers and conductors. For this, if needed, we will first issue an ordinance and then make the necessary legislation,” Chakrabarty told mediapersons.

This comes in the wake of Saturday’s minibus mishap in Howrah that left a dozen people dead and six others injured. The commission system has been held responsible for the increase in the number of road accidents as buses and minibuses rush to make more trips. Last year, 24 people had lost their lives when a bus fell into Keshtopur canal.

The transport minister also said that his department with the help of police will launch a drive to keep a check on ill-maintained buses.

“We have also launched an inspection drive to see whether buses are fitted with speed governors. We will slap huge penalty on erring bus owners,” Chakrabarty said.

Bus owners, however, are not keen on paying salaries to drivers and conductors. “To check accidents, the government needs to slap hefty fines on erring drivers,” said Swarnakamal Saha, Convenor, Bengal Bus Syndicate, an organisation of bus owners. - Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay