Battery-run green autos hit Kolkata

7 Oct 2008, 0255 hrs IST, Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey & Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay,TNN KOLKATA: After missing umpteen high court deadlines on phasing out smoke-belching vehicles, the state transport department is looking at a proposal that promises to drastically improve the ambient air quality of the city. According to plans, the one lakh strong fleet of autorickshaws in the city and surroundings would be converted in phases to battery operated ones. The proposal has been jointly floated by the West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation and Tara International, a developer of battery operated automobiles. With the March 2009 high court deadline for phasing out of two stroke autos and four stroke ones that don’t run on LPG, the state is keen to accept the proposal. When the conversion is done, the existing fuel-based engine... [read full story]