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National
Over 30,000 public transport vehicles replaced in last two years 1,200 eco-friendly buses purchased under urban renewal mission KOLKATA: By January 20, the West Bengal government will file before the Calcutta High Court an affidavit on the status of the replacement programme — for 15-year old vehicles — that was ordered by the Court two years ago. This was decided at a meeting on Wednesday among Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh, the Transport Secretary, the Chief Law Officer of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) and the City Police Commissioner. Transport Secretary Sumantra Chowdhury told reporters at the Secretariat that the Monitoring Committee set up to review matters in this regard met on Wednesday. Under the replacement initiative — which triggered a violent agitation led by the Trinamool Congress-affiliated Autorickshaw Drivers Union in December 2008 — until now, 3,000 buses and minibuses (a fleet of privately-operated vehicles which act as the State's backbone of mass transportation), 21,000 autorickshaws and 7,000 metered taxis have been replaced. Mr. Chowdhury said the affidavit would document the measures taken by the government in observance of the order, which was issued to combat the increasing automobile pollution in the State. Eco-friendly buses Mr. Chowdhury said the latest model of environment-friendly buses was purchased by the government with the help of the Centre and was being run by franchisees of various State transport corporations. Under this programme, 1,200 buses have been purchased under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Low-floor Volvo buses were also now plying short and long-distance routes. Improvement WBPCB officials said that since the introduction of the new vehicles — especially autorickshaws run on LPG — there had been an improvement in pollution parameters such as benzene and carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide.
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