Aiming to facilitate mass with better transportation system in backward Bastar region, Chief Minister Raman Singh on Saturday dedicated 30 city buses in Jagdalpur, headquarters of Bastar region.
The city buses dedicated under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) will be operated here in the region under Bastar Urban Public Transport Society.
Besides Bastar, these city buses will be operated in Kanker, Dantewada and Kondagaon district.
With operation of city buses, traffic load in the region would be going to decline significantly and wide usage of personal vehicles is also expected to fall thereby leading to conservation of fuel, said Chief Minister Raman Singh.
“Apart from facilitating rural and urban population, city buses will also be emerging as an effective transportation medium for tourists reaching here from various part of the country,” he added.
Chief Minister further informed that under Bastar Urban Public Transport Society, 10 buses will be operated in Jagdalpur, five in Kondagaon, 10 in Kanker and five in Dantewada. These buses are equipped with Intelligent Transport System (ITS) which carries facilities like Global Positioning System (GPS), CCTV camera and automatic ticketing machine.
The Central Government has given administrative approval to the State Government for purchasing of 451 buses and developing infrastructure for the service in 21 clusters of Chhattisgarh and 70 city or towns. For better implementation of the programme, nine urban public transport societies have also been formed in the state, including Raipur, Durg, Bhilai, Rajnandgaon, Bilaspur, Korba, Raigarh, Koriya, Sarguja and Bastar.
School Education Minister Kedar Kashyap, Minister for Forest Mahesh Gagda, Bastar MP Dinesh Kashyap, Chairman of Youth Commission Kamalchandra Bhanjdeo, Jagdalpur MlA Santosh Bafana, Kondagaon MlA Mohan Markam and other registered their presence in the programme.