Minister asks West Bengal govt to run earlier sanctioned buses

Kolkata, Nov 6 : Minister of State for Urban Development Sougata Roy today asked the West Bengal government to run earlier sanctioned buses first before demanding more vehicles.

He was reacting to the state government's demand to buy 1,000 more new buses.

'Progress of work under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM) is very slow in West Bengal compared to the other states. Even the government did not submit any report to the Centre on the progress of various developmental schemes in the state,' Mr Roy told newspersons on the sidelines of the Ist International conference on 'Solid Waste Management Exhibition on Municipal Services, Urban Development and Public Works', organised by the Centre for Quality Management System, Jadavpur University, here.

Under the JNNURM scheme, the Centre had sanctioned 1,300 new buses for West Bengal, he said, adding 1,200 buses to be run in Kolkata and 100 bused in Asansol.

But, out of 1,200 buses, only 57 buses came on the roads till now, he added.

'The government should bring rest of the buses to the state first before demanding more,' the Minister said.

He also informed that the Centre had sanctioned Rs 2,148 crore for solid waste management programme throughout the country.

Rs 56.58 crore had been sanctioned for the 13 Municipalities and Rs 111.96 crore for the other areas in West Bengal, he added.

--UNI

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