An old bus in poor condition runs in the city on Wednesday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Transport operators would have to junk their 15-year-old vehicles and procure new ones to continue operations in the city.

The state transport authority, in a meeting on July 15, decided to stop operations of buses, tempos, autorickshaws and school buses that are more than 15 years old, in the Patna town area.

Operators have also appealed to the government to allow them to change their engines rather than the vehicle itself to reduce financial burden. “An operator is required to have around 15-20 buses for a single school these days and the cost of each bus is more than Rs 15 lakh. I don’t think it would be feasible for any operator to replace vehicles on such a short notice,” said M.K. Pandey, proprietor, Pandey Travels Private Ltd, which runs buses for St Michael’s High School and St Xavier’s High School.

Public transport in the city is likely to receive a jolt owing to the decision. In 1998, the Supreme Court banned the plying of commercial vehicles and cars more than 15 years old.

“In adherence to the apex court’s order and considering the potential environmental degradation because of pollution caused by old vehicles, the transport authority took the decision to stop issuing permits to vehicles more than 15 years old. It has also been decided that owners having old vehicles should get new ones to run on the same permit within three months. If new vehicles are not procured within the stipulated time, old permits would be terminated,” said a senior officer of the transport department.

Of 375 buses being run under the city mini bus service, around 100 buses are expected to be older than 15 years. The service association has, however, accepted the move but demanded support from the state government.

“There are around 100 vehicles under the city mini-bus service, which are more than 15 years old. Old vehicles cause a high level of pollution but it would not be financially possible for all bus owners to buy new vehicles. We demand that the state government or transport department give such bus owners subsidy against procurement of new vehicles,” said Umesh Sinha, general secretary of Nagar Seva Mini-bus Owners’ Association.

“We have started a survey to identify autorickshaws, which are more than 15 years old. The survey would end on July 25. We are ready to remove old vehicles but the authorities should provide some alternative arrangement for autorickshaw owners and drivers to shield them from unemployment,” said Raj Kumar Jha, general secretary, Bihar State Auto Drivers’ Association. At present, there are over 20,000 three-seat autorickshaws and around 4,000 six-seat tempos plying on the city streets.

Pollution experts, however, claimed that there was a provision to run older vehicles after retro-fitment. “There is a provision that vehicles owners can install pollution control kits approved by Automotive Research Association of India in the engine. In such cases, the pollution level of even older vehicles would be under permissible limits,” said Arun Kumar, scientist, Bihar State Pollution Control Board.