State transport department submits a list of alternatives for Esplanade Bus Terminus to Calcutta HC

The state transport department has presented a list of potential locations for a long-distance bus terminal to Calcutta High Court in case the Esplanade terminus is closed down.

The listed sites include Santragachhi bus terminus, Foreshore Road in Howrah, land under the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners near Vidyasagar Setu, Duke Road in Howrah's Shibpur, and plots adjacent to bus depots of the North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC), South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) in Kolkata, and the Howrah bus depot.

The managing director of West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) submitted this report to the court, and a hearing is scheduled for October 6. The affidavit explains that these potential sites were explored during joint inspections involving various agencies, including HRBC, WBTC, NBSTC, SBSTC, the army, and Kolkata police.

This matter arises from a petition by environmental activist Subhas Datta, who alleges that the state government has not complied with a Supreme Court order from December 2007 to relocate the Esplanade bus terminus. The High Court had issued an order in September 2007 to move the terminus beyond 3km from the Victoria Memorial, based on a report from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute. Currently, approximately 2,000 buses serving various routes use the Esplanade terminus near Shahid Minar.