Key Points :
- Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee disclosed two open-roof double-decker buses on Tuesday.
- The booking can be done online for on and hop off tours by these buses from 23rd October.
- Mamta Bannerji has also announced : Folk artists will perform on the bus to showcase the culture of Bengal.
- As the officials said, for now these two buses will be used for puja parikrama and pandal hopping.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee disclosed two open-roof double-decker buses on Tuesday.
She said,
“Such buses are usually seen in London and will be used here for hop-on hop-off tours. The booking can be done online from October 23″.
These buses will stop and pass by heritage buildings and important landmarks in Kolkata such as Writers’ Building, GPO and Victoria Memorial. The authorities will reframe the route to include more landmarks depending on the demand.
She also added that,
“Folk artists will perform on the bus to showcase the culture of Bengal.”
Such double-decker buses were introduced in the 1920s. The erstwhile Left Front government phased them out in the early 1990s. In 2005, the last bus went off city roads. In 2011, after coming to power, Banerjee directed the transport department to bring back the iconic buses.
A transport department official has said,
“As of now these two will be used for puja parikrama and pandal hopping. Later they will be used for tourism, such as hop-on hop-off tours. They are not meant for commercial services.”
These new buses will have features like automatic doors, destination boards, panic buttons and CCTV cameras. While the old buses used to have two doors, these will have one door. Of the 51 seats, there will be 16 on the upper deck.
“The buses will be painted in blue and white, the favourite colour of the chief minister . One of the main purposes the old double decker buses were phased out was that they used to consume a lot of fuel and hence were uneconomical. They were polluting too,” said the official.
As we all know, the festive season has already started and puja shopping is going has already started with a full swing this time, the construction of pandals is also in the final stage. In some places, the idols of Goddess Durga have already arrived. The Puja starts from October 23 and it’s also said that the respected Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is going to virtually in 3 days inaugurate dozens of pujas !
