Kolkata Diary

Tax, fee waiver on CNG, battery-run vehicles
The state transport authorities has issued a notification waiving the motor vehicles tax, additional tax and registration fees for all CNG and battery-powered two-wheelers and cars from April 2022 to March 2024. Transport officials said the move was aimed at incentivising use of environment-friendly means of commute. This will encourage private and commercial vehicle operators to opt for electric and CNG-powered vehicles,’’ said a transport official. Several automotive dealers in the state said the waiver for electric car owners would be between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 for three years. The notification follows an announcement by the Bengal government in March. 

Survey vessel rolls out of Garden Reach
A survey vessel, built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRESE) Ltd, was launched last week and it is said to be the second one in a series of four such ships for the Indian Navy to be launched in less than six months. The vessel was launched by Sarbani Dasgupta, wife of Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, commanding-in-chief, eastern naval command. GRESE has a vast experience in building survey ships for the Indian Navy. In the 80s, a series of six hydrographic survey vessels were delivered to the Indian Navy. The first ship, INS Sandhayak, served for 40 years and it was decommissioned in 2021 a few months before a new one was reborn in Kolkata in December last year – the first of this series.

Water treatment boost to benefit south parts
Water supply to southern Kolkata is likely to get a boost following an increase in daily production capacity of the Garden Reach water treatment plant. The city corporation has augmented the daily production capacity of the plant by 25 million gallons. Mayor Firhad Hakim inaugurated the enhanced production capacity. The plant at Garden Reach supplies potable water to residential neighbourhoods across southern Kolkata, parts of Kasba, Garden Reach, Behala and Jadavpur. Several pockets here suffer from water scarcity, especially in summer. Civic engineers said that with the increase in daily production, more potable water would be pushed into the distribution network. 

Pranab mondal 
Our correspondent in West Bengal pranabm@newindianexpress.com