PIL at Calcutta High Court to revive century-old tramways in Kolkata

A public interest litigation has been filed at a division bench of the Calcutta High Court with a plea to revive and protect the 120-year-old electricity- operated tram transport system in Kolkata, which is the oldest existing tram network operating in India and the oldest operating tramway in Asia.

Started in the pre-Independence era in 1902, the city's tram system, which was initially operated by the currently dissolved Calcutta Tramways Company, was always preferred by elderly persons as a comfortable vehicle and was also acclaimed for its environment- friendly features.

The tram system has a tragic but nostalgic connection with the literary minded sections of the Bengali society over an incident when legendary Bengali poet Jibanananda Das died after being hit by a tramcar in Kolkata, then Calcutta, on October 22, 1954.

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In the PIL filed at the division bench of the Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, the petitioner, Sulagna Mukherjee, has pointed out that at time different cities are increasingly embracing tram transport system as an environment friendly system, the same system in Kolkata is currently running in just two routes with the operations at the remaining routes being abandoned.

The petitioner has also argued that with operations in so many routes having been abandoned, the huge quantum of land occupied by different tramcar depots are being sold off for real estate promotion purposes or shopping hubs. On several routes tram-tracks have been uprooted with the excuse that operation of tram cars is leading to traffic congestion in the city. The petitioner has also questioned the justification of doing away with the system despite having such a huge network.

In the PIL, she has also demanded that the state government come out with details of the land of tram depots being sold, the fund earned out of that sale and for what purpose the sale proceeds were used.

The petition has been admitted by the division bench of Justice Srivastava and Justice Bharadwaj. The first hearing in the matter has been scheduled on December 16 this year.

To recall, the Calcutta Tram Users Association, an association advocating for increasing use of tram cars as an environment friendly transport mode, had been protesting for a long time in demand of the restoration of the abandoned tram service routes in the city.