The state transport department on Friday submitted a report to the high court stating what it had done to phase out 15-year-old commercial vehicles and two-stroke three-wheelers from the Calcutta Metropolitan Area (CMA), almost three months after they were banned.

The report, signed by transport department joint secretary Dilip Kumar Bakshi, claimed that till October 29, 82 old buses, 129 minibuses, 1,657 taxis and 6,610 two-stroke autorickshaws had been replaced.

The high court had asked the state government in March to phase out old commercial vehicles and two-stroke autos from the CMA from September 1. In the same order, the court had asked the state transport department to file an action taken report after September 1.

According to the report, till October 29, owners of 23,303 two-stroke autorickshaws had applied for replacement. Of them, 6,610 autos were replaced and 8,152 applications were forwarded to banks for financing.

The government had barred 2,557 buses (registered before January 1, 1993) from plying in the CMA and procured 630 buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), which were handed over to franchisees.

The bus associations had informed the government that many of their members were not interested in plying vehicles procured under the JNNURM. They preferred to buy new buses with bank loans since the vehicles’ ownership would rest with them.

The report states that the transport department had proposed financial help of up to Rs 50,000 for replacement of buses and Rs 30,000 for minibuses.

Till October 29, the owners of 557 minibuses had already applied for replacement of their vehicles with new BS III-compliant diesel minibuses.

A copy of a letter by additional chief secretary Sumantra Chowdhury to the public vehicles department (written in September) was enclosed with the report. The letter states that the government had decided to grant a one-time financial assistance to workers who lost their jobs.

Environment activist Subhash Dutta, the petitioner in the case, pointed out that the green bench had constituted a committee to monitor whether its orders were being carried out properly and suggested that it be asked to file a report.

The bench, comprising acting Chief Justice B. Bhattacharya and Justice K.K. Prasad, asked the committee, headed by the state chief secretary, and the state pollution control board to file status reports within 14 days.