Kolkata: The West Bengal government has launched a cleanup drive to scrap its nearly 22,000 vehicles that are over 15 years old.
This is part of an initiative aimed at modernising the fleet. It seeks to decommission the old vehicles used by various government departments, including police and transport.
At least 698 vehicles from the police department, 481 from the transport sector and 710 from various PSUs have been earmarked for decommissioning.
In addition, departments like PWD, Panchayat and Public Health Engineering (PHE) have collectively listed over 19,000 vehicles for scrapping. This brought the total number close to 22,000.
The state government is emphasising replacing these old vehicles with EVs. In a shift towards sustainable and eco-friendly practices, the procurement of EVs is being prioritised over conventional fuel-based ones.
Many departments are moving away from vehicle ownership altogether, choosing instead to hire vehicles for official use.
The transport department has begun the identification of these aged vehicles and initiated their removal from service.
Every department has been informed about thr registration details of thr vehicles and instructed to withdraw them from operation.