The state-owned South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) plans to set up three CNG fuelling stations of its own in Asansol, Durgapur and Arambagh in the coming months.
Today at a function in Asansol bus stand, law, judiciary and labour minister Moloy Ghatak has flagged off three new CNG buses of SBSTC which will operate in three different routes. Chairman of Asansol Municipal Corporation, Amarnath Chatterjee and Deputy Mayor, Abhijeet Ghatak were also present on the occasion.
“These three buses will operate on the Asansol-Nabadwip, Asansol-Purulia and Asansol-Katwa routes,”minister Moloy Ghatak said. From Asansol and Durgapur thirteen new buses have rolled out today. Chairman of South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC) , Subhas Dutta said that the state owned corporation has been eyeing expansion and at the same time will also reduce its carbon footprint and has been focussing on Green buses with CNG and electric buses.
SBSTC in fact is planning to introduce 100 CNG buses this year and has registered a record earning of Rs.15 crores from ticket sales in this January. It is now eyeing to earn Rs.17 crores from ticket sales every month with the introduction of its new CNG buses.
The turnaround is particularly significant as the company has suffered huge financial losses between 2020 to 2022, due to Covid-19 global pandemic outbreak.
With its headquarters in Durgapur, SBSTC was established in the year 1963. It mainly covers the districts of Burdwan, Bankura, Purulia, Midnapur, North-24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Kolkata.
SBSTC operates throughout the entire state of West Bengal and covers almost all historical places and tourist points like Digha, Garbeta forest, Bishnupur, Mukutmanipur, Susunia Hill, Kangsabati project, Ajodhya hill, Santiniketan, Murshidabad Hazarduari (Nawab Palace), Tarapith temple, Massanjore Dam, Farakka Barrage, Gour, Nabadwip, Mayapur, Siliguri and Darjeeling, Tarakeswar, Thakurnagar etc. There are 23 CNG and PNG filling stations at present which will be added to in the next one year.