Kolkata: West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) has refused permission to Kolkata Traffic Police to set up speed-breakers on Rabindra Sarani citing that they plan to “utilize the tram tracks soon”. While doing so, WBTC cited a Calcutta High Court order from last year, where a division bench had issued an interim order and asked to stop any further bituminization of tram tracks.
According to Lalbazar, the traffic police has been following a norm for the past several years. “We would construct multiple small bumps on Rabindra Sarani each year and remove them during the festival season to allow easy movement of idols on trucks. We rebuild the humps after the end of the puja season. However, this year, there have been objections from WBTC,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
Though the WBTC brass said it wanted to reserve its comments on the developments at present, sources claimed that reintroduction of a few routes was under active consideration. “Till the HC order comes through or a final decision on revival is taken, we do not wish to disturb the status quo of the tram tracks,” said an officer.
Initially, the tram from Galiff Street-Bagbazar to BBD Bag via Rabindra Sarani was in operation. Kolkata Police made it a one-way (north-bound) citing traffic congestion, reminded tram lovers.
“The people of Rabindra Sarani have been missing trams since 2017. They don’t know when they will get back their trams. The termini at Galiff Street and Bagbazar have now become dumpyards. There are no signs of operation along this century-old stretch. Speed-breakers had been constructed over tram lines which indicated the sign of extinction of trams from Rabindra Sarani forever. If there are certain objections from WBTC, we can at least believe that there is still some hope,” said Aniket Banerjee of Kolkata bus-o-pedia, a bus and tram lovers’ group.
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