SHIFT ORDER: Buses at the Esplanade bus terminus. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

The state government is in a quandary over the high court order to relocate the Esplanade bus stand to a “distant place” to save the Victoria Memorial from pollution.

Sources said all earlier efforts by the transport department to shift the stand had come to nought.

In 2004, the HRBC undertook a Rs 40-crore scheme to build a bus terminus under Vidyasagar Setu, on the Howrah side. The terminus, planned on 10 acres, could have accommodated over 100 long-distance buses.

Six private parties had responded to the tender. But after Swadesh Chakraborty, then Howrah MP, took over as HRBC chairman, the organisation decided to build a garment park on the plot.

The department then decided to build a terminus at Dhapa, on a 170-bigha plot. The Rs 35-crore project would have housed around 80 buses.

“The plan has been submitted to the environment department, but we’re not sure whether the project will get the nod as the plot is within the East Calcutta Wetlands,” said an official.

In a third attempt at shifting the terminus, transport minister Subhas Chakraborty had approached former defence minister Pranab Mukherjee for a plot under Vidyasagar Setu, on the Howrah side. The ministry refused to allot land.

Some years ago, the government had shifted the inter-state bus stand from the Shahid Minar grounds to Babughat. But 400-odd buses still ply from Shahid Minar daily. Officials said most of the buses ply illegally.

“Most buses do not have a permit, as the department had stopped issuing permits to buses beginning, terminating or passing through Howrah, BBD Bag and the bandstand in August 2004,” the official added.

Transport secretary Sumantra Chowdhury refused to comment on the court order on Saturday, saying he was to yet receive a copy of it.