The Case of the Missing Buses

The RG Kar rape and murder case is still being examined in the Supreme Court, but a rather more innocuous matter has got the West Bengal government running after the wheels of justice.

- Arkamoy Datta Majumdar

Sometime after the Durga Puja festival, it will file a petition with the SC, requesting a revision of a 2008 order by the Calcutta High Court that scrapped all commercial vehicles over 15 years old plying in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA). The move betrays a desperation to save the city's 'vanishing buses'. Once the preferred mode of commute for Kolkatans, the number of buses in the city has fallen drastically. The realisation hit hard when authorities figured that around 1,500 privately owned buses will go off the roads in 2024-25 courtesy the 2008 order. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked the transport department to legally contest the vehicle scrapping policy in August.