The common people and mainly the devotees and tourists from far-off places can now avail city bus service from Sambalpur headquarters town to Chipilima for visiting the Ghanteswari temple, a famous saktipitha and also a place of scenic beauty on the bank of the Mahanadi river. It was flagged off on Saturday.
Sambalpur district Collector Balwant Singh, who was present on the occasion, said that the service would attract more visitors to the shrine.From Sambalpur, the city bus will go to the Ghanteswai temple at 6.15 am, 9.10 am, 12 noon, and 3.30 pm. Similarly, the bus will return to Sambalpur at 7.45 am, 10. 45 am, 1.10 pm and 5.00 pm, informed sources.
There are several tourist centers near Sambalpur city. If the city bus service is provided to those places, it will be helpful in attracting more number of tourists and there by adding to the income of the locals, said a local, adding that the famous leaning temple of Huma needs also to be connected with Sambalpur by the bus service.
Around 32 buses have already been procured for the city bus services which are operational on public private partnership (PPP) mode in Sambalpur. A private transporter, Paschim Odisha Paribahan Company, is managing it at present and currently, eight buses are running on the roads of the city, said Collector Singh.
Paschim Odisha Paribahan Company chief executive officer (CEO) Bipin Bhatia said, “The city bus connectivity has already been provided to the Jawahar Uddyan at Hirakud, which is a major tourist attraction of Sambalpur. We will also begin the city bus service to Huma from March 1.”
Because of lack of infrastructure, we are yet to run all the 32 buses.However, we are hopeful that all the 32 buses will run on the roads by April this year, he informed.