North Kolkata residents to face trouble with several buses off the roads from Dec 9

Kolkata: Daily commuters of North Suburban Kolkata are set to face a tough time as operators have decided to stop plying buses from December 9, citing huge losses after plying through diverted routes after the closure of Talla Bridge.

It may be recalled that the plying of vehicles above three tonnes had been banned on Talla Bridge in September.

Talla Bridge is the most important connector between North Kolkata and the Northern suburbs. Around 600 state-run and private buses used to ply along the bridge every day.

"On November 29, we had written a letter to the West Bengal Transport department, mentioning that we are suffering huge losses after running on the diverted routes following the closure of Talla Bridge. We also demanded a fare hike. The government didn't pay heed to our demands. Again, on December 5, we submitted a letter to the Transport department stating that buses of over 12 routes will not ply from December 9," said Pradip Narayan Bose of West Bengal Bus and Minibus Owners' Association.

Tapan Banerjee, joint secretary of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicate, informed that the bus owners are unable to provide services for several reasons.

Due to the extra distance, each bus owner is facing difficulty as not a single one of them has earned even the fuel cost, owing to the fact that the fuel consumption has increased by Rs 500 on an average per day.