Post CM's nudge, 300 more pvt buses to start plying

Kolkata: Private bus operators have decided to add 300 more vehicles to its existing fleet to give relief to the office goers from Monday.

"At present, 3,800 private buses are plying on the roads. From Monday, around 4,100 private buses will run in the city," said Tapan Banerjee, general secretary of Joint Council of Bus Syndicates, five days after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee threatened to acquire 6,000 private buses in Kolkata through the imposition of National Disaster Management Act if the owners continue to refuse to operate them even after July 1.

According to sources, 1,800 government buses are running in the city with only seating capacity of passengers.

While the bus operators demanded fare hike and earlier suspended their services in most of the routes, state government offered to pay a monthly dole of Rs 15,000 each to 6,000 private buses in the city for three months on June 26.

"There are 42,000 private buses and 3,000 mini buses in the state. 6,000 private buses used to ply in Kolkata before pre-lockdown period. Private buses and minibuses are insufficient on the road due to spiraling diesel price and lack of passengers on the road. Moreover, most of these buses are not in a running condition," pointed out Tapan.