To help the crew members of buses,mini-buses,taxis and autorickshaws,which had to be withdrawn from the city roads because of the ban imposed by Calcutta High Court on grounds of pollution,the state government on Thursday announced a one-time payment of Rs 2,000 to each of them. This was announced by state Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta after holding a meeting with state Transport Minister Ranjit Kundu and Minister for Labour Anadi Sahu. According to the government estimates,around 50,000 people will benefit from this scheme. Workers of only those vehicles who had applied for conversion of their vehicles before August 25 are eligible to apply for the money, said Sahu. The application form for the scheme will be available at RTA offices and an advertisement will be inserted in all newspapers on Friday. Sahu said the applications will have to be endorsed by the owner of the vehicle as well as the union of that particular route. The money will be disbursed within one month of the receipt of the application and it will cost the state exchequer Rs 10 crore. The state government has also sanctioned Rs 50 crore as financial assistance to run the transport sector by giving subsidy of Rs 50,000 to bus owners,Rs 30,000 to mini-bus owners,Rs 20,000 to taxi owners and Rs 10,000 to autorickshaw owners.
