After successful operationalisation of the city bus service under JNNURM covering the twin city-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack and the holy town of Puri, the State Government has decided to expand the bus service to other important cities in a phased manner.
Considering the huge demand from the citizens for the service which caters to need of the growing traffic, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday asked the Urban Development Department authorities to implement the city bus service in Brahmapur Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Sambalpur town by end of June next.
Patnaik, while reviewing the implementation of various packages announced for urban local bodies, asked the Urban Development department authorities to take necessary steps to operationalise the bus service in Brahmapur and Sambalpur in line with Bhubaneswar.
A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) named Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Service limited has been constituted to manage the city bus service with 125 buses presently plying in nine routes covering a distance of 267 km. BPTSl has hired a firm to run the buses with pre-defined revenue sharing
model.
The Government has also decided to increase the fleet of buses in Bhubaneswar, Puri, Cuttack, Khorda and Jatani. Besides, 10 AC buses would be added. The proposal covers augmentation of the existing routes and inclusion of new routes, official sources said.
Sources said that as many as 50 buses each for Sambalpur-Burla-Hirakud and Brahmapur-Chhatrapur-Gopalpur with separate SPVs are proposed to be set
up soon.
The Chief Minister also asked all the District Collectors to undertake regular review of the implementation of the cement concrete road projects, provision of grants to Yubak Sangha, installation of Hi-Max light and construction of Kalyan Mandaps in urban areas.
Besides, he asked the Chief Secretary to monitor the progress of the packages through video conferencing with the District Collectors.
The Chief Minister asked the Urban Development department authorities to take steps to expedite the ongoing integrated sewerage project being implemented at an estimated cost of Rs 2, 485 crore by JAICA in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.