A newly constructed ultra modern Sambalpur bus stand in Ainthapali, now waiting its inauguration, has faced legal hurdles. The Private Bus Owners’ Association (POBA) has knocked the door of the Orissa High Court on the matter of the excess entry fee collected by the authority.
“The district administration is charging exorbitantly high entry fee on the private buses which is not financially viable for the owners as we face a business slowdown,” said PBOA president Sailendra Singh.
Notably, the construction of the bus stand with all facilities has almost been completed. Initially, the district administration asked the private owners to pay Rs 150 per day as entry fee to which the former strongly declined. After a series of negotiations, the administration further fixed the fee at Rs 60 per day to which the bus owners association still disagrees. The argument of the private bus owners is that the entry fee in the Puri bus stand constructed at a cost of `70 crore is only `15 for six hours. Entry fee in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar bus stands is only `15 per day. It is `20 in Rourkela and Keonjhar. “Since the entry fee in the entire State is between `15 and `20, `60 at Sambalpur is unjustified,” said Singh.
“When all our negotiations with the district administration failed, we decided to move court and now, the matter is subjudice. We are hopeful of getting justice,” added Singh.
Further the PBOA alleged that as per the rate fixed by the administration, the income from the new bus stand is too high. After meeting all expenditures in higher side, there will be a profit of Rs 50 lakh per year. Hence, why the huge entry fee is uncalled-for, it said.