KOLKATA: The West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) and the Bengal Gas Company Limited (BGCL) signed a CNG Bus fuel agreement at Kasba Transport office on Monday.
"The first CNG station for Government buses shall be operational in six months. This will bring down the cost of operating buses and also reduce the air pollution," said state Transport minister Firhad Hakim.The agreement was signed between BGCL CEO Satyabrata Bairagi and WBTC managing director Rajanvir Singh Kapur to reduce pollution. State Transport department secretary Rajesh Kumar Sinha was also present on the occasion. The initiative comes amid spiraling fuel prices.
"We are focusing on Electric buses and now CNG so that Kolkata can become greener and cleaner," pointed out Hakim. He reiterated that the State Transport Department has taken various steps for E-buses earlier. Now steps are taken for CNG buses. There will be significant reduction in vehicular pollution with the introduction of CNG fleet in Kolkata and saving in fuel cost to the extent of 25– 30 per cent.
Kolkata is the only city from India whose successful operation of electric buses has featured in the flagship report of International Energy Agency (IEA) - Global Electric Vehicle Outlook (GEVO) 2020 released in Paris recently.
"On Monday, we signed an agreement with WBTC to give CNG facility to all the bus depots of the state government. It will start from Kasba bus depot," said Bairagi. BGCL and WBTC have entered into a five-year agreement where BGCL will be setting up CNG facilities within the premises of WBTC and supply CNG to buses. Eight Bus depots (Howrah, Salt lake, Thakurpukur, Nilgunj, Belghoria, Santragachi and Karunamoyee) including Kasba Bus depot have been identified to create such CNG facilities.
BGCL will be investing Rs 3.5 crore to build up CNG infrastructure at each Bus depot. About 15 buses per hour can be refueled with two bus dispensers in the online CNG Stations at Bus depots.