Kolkata: The state Transport department has put up signboards at different places, mentioning that more than 15-year-old commercial vehicles will not be allowed to enter or roam across the city after December 31.
"We have installed signboards at different entry and exit points of Kolkata. The signboard reads - As per the order of Hon'ble National Green Tribunal (Eastern Zone Bench) 15-year-old commercial vehicles registered within Kolkata Metropolitan area, if found plying, shall be seized forthwith, prosecuted and liable," said a senior official of the state Transport department.
The initiative comes after the National Green Tribunal observed on November 11 that the Bengal government "had failed to take any effective measures to control auto emission by phasing out commercial vehicles 15 years old or older."
In 2008, the Calcutta High Court had ordered a ban on all commercial vehicles 15 years old or older plying in the Calcutta Metropolitan Area (CMA), in a bid to control vehicular pollution.
However, according sources, more than 1,200 buses and minibuses that are 15 years old or older, ply in Calcutta and Howrah.
The state Transport department in a letter had asked all other departmental secretaries to phase out all such vehicles by December 31. Meanwhile, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation will procure and hire 97 vehicles to ensure uninterrupted conservancy and allied services.
Principal Secretary of the state Environment department had held a meeting in October and directed the Solid Waste Management department of KMC to phase out vehicles that have attained 15 years of age or more.
The majority of the vehicles that figure in the list are in the conservancy category, belonging to the Solid Waste Management (SWM) department. They include tipper trucks which are extensively used for transportation of municipal waste and dumpers that are widely used for carrying solid waste.