End of the road? Trams to run only on ‘heritage route’, state to tell HC
Times of India | 24 September 2024
Kolkata: Trams, a part of Kolkata's transport-scape for 151 years, seem to be on their last leg in the only Indian city where they still run.
The state govt will tell Calcutta High Court that trams will run "only on the Esplanade-Kidderpore route" when the PIL on the gradual discontinuation of trams comes up for hearing next. Asia's oldest tram network would retain only this short "heritage joy-ride route", state transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty said on Monday.
Chakraborty, asked about the absence of trams from this year's transport department-backed Puja Parikrama (a tour of the puja pandals), said the state govt ran trams last year "despite objections from traffic cops". "But this year, after continuing objections from the police, we have decided to discontinue the Tram Puja Parikrama. And, in any case, we are discontinuing trams on all routes except the Kidderpore-Maidan stretch. We will inform Calcutta HC in the next hearing," he added.
The statement sparked protests from citizens and tram lovers who said they were aghast at the "myopic idea" to destroy "India's most plural urban mobility system in blatant violation of HC orders". Calcutta Tram Users' Association president Debasish Bhattacharya said the minister's declaration was devoid of any scientific basis. "There has been no survey, no study on the basis of which this abolition plan has been drawn up. We have consulted global mobility experts, who have studied the city's tram system vis-a-vis its growing automobile population. They have told us that abolition of trams will be suicidal at a time when they are being brought back in many cities across the world," he said.
Minister Chakraborty, however, said trams were introduced in the city when there was no bus, no automobile and no metro. "The city now has a growing automobile population, especially cars, though the usable road space remains stuck at 6%. Trams have been abolished from all other Indian cities. They now cause congestion and we cannot afford to get choked by trams," he added.
But the transport minister's statement was definitely not in sync with the Calcutta HC decision to form a committee to work on a blueprint for the revival of the tram, lawyer Sulagna Mukherjee who moved the PIL, said: "The division bench headed by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam formed a committee for the preservation, maintenance and restoration of the city's tram network," she added.
Environmentalist and People United for Better Living In Calcutta co-founder Pradeep Kakkar, too, said the government's decision was not based on facts. "We filed an RTI, asking for data on whether trams were slowing down traffic. Cops wrote back to say they did not have any such data. So what they are saying is not based on facts or data," he added.
CTUA's Bhattacharya said the WBTC in 2023 filed an affidavit on how the tram network of the city would be revived in a phased manner. "It is strange how the same government has now shifted its stance to abolish the network," he added.