বাংলায় পড়ুন
A committee consisting of environmentalists and people from other sectors of the society has prepared a plan in order to revive trams in Kolkata, which happens to be one of the most environment-friendly modes of transportation. The transportation network of the trams had degraded by 1990 due to lack of proper monitoring. The committee has already organized meetings with a local NGO to discuss ways to rejuvenate the tramways. One of the recent meetings were attended by representatives of tram unions and civil society organizations such as the Calcutta Tram Users Association and Paschimbanga Bigyan Mancha along with others. Naba Dutta, Secretary of Sabuj Mancha said,
We will soon set up a committee to prepare a report on rejuvenation of trams in Calcutta. The report will be used to press for a pro-tram government policy, as we had done in case of noise pollution. The committee will be chaired by professor Arunabha Majumdar, who was associated with the All India Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, and will include people with knowledge of air pollution, city planning and transport planning from Calcutta and the rest of the country.
An official of the Calcutta Tramways Company reported,
The situation has deteriorated sharply over the past five years. Hardly 30 to 40 trams ply regularly on nine routes spread across 28km. Even in 2014-15, 100 trams plied on 20-odd routes across 56km. In the 1980s, around 400 trams plied across 75km.
Keeping in mind how the network of trams is slowly disappearing, the committee’s key demand is to make the closed tram routes operational like before along with increasing the number of trams plying daily and to set up proper tram stops and a schedule of operation.
