Bhubaneswar: Keeping World Hokey Cup 2018 in mind, the state government has decided to add 200 more city buses in the capital city by November 2018.
Chairing a high-level meeting here at Secretariat Wednesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asked the concern department officials to modernize the public transport system in the city before the World Cup.
Presently there are 110 government-run city buses playing on different routes of Bhubaneswar and only 6 per cent of the total commuters are using the service. CM has asked the officials to take steps to ensure at least 16 percent passengers start using the city bus service. The government will spend `125 crore in the first phase for modernization of the city bus service. There are also plans to introduce as many as 92 AC buses on major routes at a later date.
Earlier, the government had decided to merge Cuttack Urban Transport Services Ltd (CUTSL) with Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Service (BPTS). After the merger, jurisdiction of new entity (SPV) will be the master plan areas of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) and Puri-Konark Development Authority (PKDA), sources said.
The government would also bring necessary scheme/guidelines required for nationalization of city bus route after examining case studies of other cities, where such steps have been taken to strengthen the public transport, they said.
PNN
