Commercial vehicles 15 years or older will not be allowed to enter the areas under the Calcutta, Howrah, Bidhannagar and Barrackpore commissionerates, the transport department has announced in a notification that aims to enforce a high court order issued in 2008.
If such vehicles, which contribute the most to vehicular pollution, are spotted on the roads in these areas, they will be seized and their registration cancelled.
The notification, signed by transport secretary B.P. Gopalika, was issued on December 31. It came into effect immediately.
According to a rough estimate of the public vehicles department (PVD), more than 1,200 buses and minibuses that are 15 years or older ply in Calcutta and Howrah, in violation of the high court order.
The count will go up many times if the areas under the Barrackpore and the Bidhannagar commissionerates are taken into account.
There are also a sizeable number of other commercial vehicles — such as trucks, trailers and taxis — that are more than 15 years old.
The high court had in 2008 ordered a ban on all commercial vehicles 15 years or older plying in the Calcutta Metropolitan Area (CMA) to tackle pollution caused by vehicular emission.
The CMA covers the city and areas under municipal bodies in the adjoining districts.
The government started with getting commercial vehicles registered before 1993 replaced with BS-III ones, a task that it took two years to complete.
Environmentalists allege, and government sources admit, that the drive to get old commercial vehicles replaced lost steam after that.
The National Green Tribunal had on November 11 observed that the Bengal government “had failed to take any effective measures to control” auto emission by phasing out commercial vehicles 15 years or older and slapped a fine of Rs 5 crore on the government for failing to take appropriate steps to curb pollution.
The NGT had observed: “The principal reason for bad ambient air quality in the city of Calcutta and Howrah was identified to be auto emission….”
The transport department’s notification states: “Commercial vehicles which are 15 year old from the date of initial registration, registered anywhere in the country, are hereby not allowed to enter the areas covered under the police commissionerates of Calcutta, Howrah, Bidhannagar and Barrackpore, which include the twin cities of Calcutta and Howrah.”
It goes on to state that if any such vehicle is found plying, the regional transport officer or the additional regional transport officer concerned would seize it and cancel its registration.
The authorities may also make the seized vehicles unfit for use after realising all dues.
“Copies of the order have been sent to the commissioners of police concerned, the director general of police, additional DGP (traffic), district magistrates and superintendents of police concerned, and the directorate of the transport department,” an official in the transport department said.
Tapan Bandyopadhyay of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicate, as association of private bus operators, said none of their vehicles was more than 15 years old.
PVD sources, however, said a bulk of such vehicles continued to ferry passengers without a certificate of fitness and other clearances.