The OSRTC bus service introduced to the tribal- prone Keonjhar district from the Capital city here via a most underdeveloped belt and equally tribal-prone in Dhenkanal and Keonjhar districts though is a welcoming move, seems far from meeting the mission.
Blame it on the bus staff members, who for personal pecuniary benefit, are flouting the rules pertaining to stopovers, time to be spent at various halts, speed limit, time scheduling, freight in-take, passenger comfort and safety, besides the safety of the vehicle itself.
The bus service has been highly popular ever since it was started. Not a single day is there shortage of passengers. Hence, it is economically viable. As per the scheduling, one bus starts its journey from Barmunda bus stop at early in the morning and reaches Keonjhar in the afternoon, while another bus starts from Keonjhar bus stand in the wee hours and reaches Bhubaneswar by 2 pm every day.
The buses ply through Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Keonjhar districts and cater to the need of the poor tribals and villagers on the route. The buses pass through the Maoist infested Kankadahad block in Dhenkanal and several forested and isolated areas in Keonjhar district. Scores of villages on the route take the advantage of the service. Well, that is the good part. The other way round, the bus service is run in the fashion of a private service or even worse than that.
Though the buses are under superfast category with supposedly limited stopovers, they are stopped anywhere and everywhere passengers are seen signaling to travel in them. So, all sorts of short distance passengers are allowed to board the buses, causing great discomfort to the long distance ones.
Besides, the buses are dangerously packed, which not only creates unbearable rush and suffocation inside but also make the vehicles amenable to pickpockets and vagabonds looking for opportunity to molest innocent tribal women passengers. Since the vehicles are stopped at illegal points consuming time, they are driven at faster speed throwing rules on speed limit to wind. Thus, it involves risk on passengers’ as well as the vehicle’s safety. More often than not, these buses are facing technical snags on the route and terminating their journey on the day, putting the passengers in great inconveniences.
Curiously, most often the bus coming from Keonjhar to Bhubaneswar is stopped at an isolated location at a bridge over river Brahmani between Kamakhyanagar and Dhenkanal and some freight covered in bags are unloaded from its roof into an auto rickshaw. Nobody knows what the items are. But all the passengers have to wait till the unloading is over. This is done thanks to a tacit understanding between the staff members of the bus and some locals in the area.
The authorities of the OSRTC must look into the problems created by the staff of the buses who are eyeing to earn fast buck at the cost of the passengers’ safety and comfort. The innocent tribals are most often rudely behaved by one conductor of the bus. Over and above, the authorities need to ensure that the buses stick to the time schedule. For example, the unnecessary halt of the bus at the Dhenkanal bus stand during its up journey by about 15 to 30 minutes should be done away with, demanded the passengers.