The Bengal Government has beaten a hasty retreat on the issue of “permanently” discontinuing the iconic Tram --- the only such facility available in the country with it being withdrawn from Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai decades ago --- following a high decibel furor in the social media and elsewhere after reports became public that State had decide to ‘derail’ the tram forever.
Bengal Transport Minister Snehashish Chakrabarty on Tuesday said that there was no need to panic as the Government was “not going to discontinue tram today or tomorrow … we will abide by the Calcutta High Court order regarding this… we too are aware of the people’s emotions.” In the backdrop of a Public Interest Petition pending in the High Court and in view of a suggestion made last December by the Court wondering whether the Government could consider a “public private partnership” the State had made it clear that in the hearing it would submit before the Court that barring for a small stretch in Khiderpore and Esplanade-Maidan area the Tram services would be discontinued. Soon the Netizens as well as the Kolkata Tram Users’ Association exploded in rebellion saying they would hit the streets if the Government would take any such decision.
“We will start a movement and gherao all the Tram Depots at Gariahat, Shyambazar, Tollygunge and elsewhere if the Government takes this decision … Tram goes with our heritage and culture and we cannot see its end in Kolkata,” said Benoy Singh one of the office bearers of the Association.
The Tramways workers’ union too said that they would jam streets of Kolkata “taking along with us the coon citizens if such arbitrary decision is implemented.” The Transport Minister’s statement comes in the aftermath of the warnings issued from various quarters the KTUA said. Once compared to “prehistoric dinosaurs” by famous Bengali writer Mani Shankar Tram started its journey for the first time in Kolkata in the year 1873 when it was drawn by horses. Subsequently it was driven by steam power and later on electric tram was introduced in the year 1902. “We had celebrated the 150 years of Tram services in Kolkata on 24 th February, 2023 … we were so proud of Trams and often people from other parts of the country who came to Kolkata would ride Tram … sometimes more fondly than the Metro Railways because you have Metro services in many cities but Tram is remaining only in Kolkata,” said Animitra Majumdar a 99-year-old person who had worked with a now defunct colonial firm for 30 long years and “only commuted to my office by tram and nothing else.”
Even till recently he made it a point to ride his favourite vehicle at least once in a month. Like Kolkata Tram ran in Madras (now Chennai), Mumbai, Delhi, Patna, Bhavnagar too but in all those places the service was discontinued owing to either space crunch, lack of speed or economic non-viability. Bikash Sharma a former employee of the Kolkata Tram Company said “the Government has already discontinued tram services in most of the routes … they are allowing this vast industry to die a slow death though people not only prefer it but love it … the Government is doing this in order to divert funds to politically viable sectors to garner votes but we will not let that happen.” Another former worker said that “the KTC had hundreds of acres of lands in prime locations all over the city … after sending Tram to the gallows they will sell these lands for a premium to their own people and construct malls … this is another scam.” However the Minister said that running the tram services was not becoming difficult economically but also causing space problems “as we have to handle ever increasing number of daily commuters.
Unlike Delhi, Mumbai or Chennai, which have more than 20 percent space on an average for roads Kolkata has only six percent roads and Tram is eating up even that he said.
