By TirthankarMitra
KOLKATA; Remember a close shot of a tram’s trolley pole snug against the overhead line sparking at every joint in the film ‘Mahanagar’. It was the opening shot of the1963 film directed by Satyajit Ray in which the tram track identifies this metropolis.
West Bengal government’s transport minister SnehashishChakraborti hasannounced the imminentclosure of Kolkata’s 150-year old tram system. The tram services in Kolkata have already beenheavily truncated. Itwould soon be a relic of the past. A short journey through the verdant green of Maidan would be run as a heritage rideasareminder of the past glory.
The trams, the powers that be in this state feel are a drag on the city’s bid to be a modern metropolis. So it goes. Long before the state transport minister had pronounced his judgement of dispensing with trams, it has been a part and parcel of what was then called Calcutta. It was considered to be a safe form of transportation for the elderly and schoolchildren.
Many a couple with decades of matrimony will fondly recall how they whispered sweet nothings into each other’s ears sitting on the window-side seat of a near empty tram. Perhaps a nearvacant tram with a hand holdingcouple on boardwas the first pointer to the present state ofthings when this light railway system trundledto the verge ofextinction having beentruncated beyond recognition.
Trams are a part and parcel of the spirit of Kolkata. And perish the thought,if someone feels otherwise. Kolkatans have a penchant of rising in protest. Often violence liberally lace these agitations though the ongoing one against the rape and murder of a junior doctorhas nothing to do with the severity and savagery that characterised yesteryear agitations.
And tramsin1950’s owned by overseas owners bore the brunt of the ire of people angered by a one paisa fare rise. If it was supported by the Opposition, the agitation against rise in tram fare had alsothe full support of a populace disillusioned by a new foundindependence.
Thirteen Trams were set on fire. Realising the depth and intensity of the people’s anger, the government of the dayin1953could takeverylittle measures against the agitators. The trams were continued to be looked upon as soft targets of agitators whoattackedthem offandon. Evenafter the endofafootballgameinmaidan,the agitatedsupporters ofa particularclubventedtheirangeragainst theirrivalcluborreferee by attacking theplyingtramsnearby. Thedocile slowmoving vehicleoftransportborethebrunt stoically.
Being an unwieldy form of transportin a city which has only 6 per cent road surface, trams aresources of traffic snarls. With Metro running from one end of the city to the other, the Kolkatans suddenly seemed to be in a hurry.
And in their eagerness to have a faster journey to their work places, many Kolkatans chose to forget that trams were sans any form of pollution. No smoke nor steam ever gushed out of any tram, moving or stationary.
The institutional and collective disenchant towards city’s tram cars is strange. The efforts to make trams almost a museum pieceseem to be a pointer that powers that be are out of sync with the trend to make this graceful and pollution free transport a part of the mainstream public careers.
All over the world, the trams are being retrofitted and reintroduced as a clean, affordable means ofpublic transportation. Popularity of trackless trams are on the rise in China which has populous cities. Tram services are resurgent inmany countries. Modern trams have a significant role in addressing vehicular pollution, a 21st century scourge.
Oflate, Kolkata has witnessed a significant rise in the number of private vehicles in it’s streets. It has also the highest vehicular density among the metropolises. Trams can help decongest the traffic snarls post modernisation. It ought to be given a new lease of life instead of being led to the path of extinction. (IPA Service)
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