Bhubaneswar: The fate of city bus service in the state is hanging fire as the government is yet to take a final decision on issuance of route permits to the city bus service operators being promoted by the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department.
It has introduced city bus services in various urban areas such as Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Balasore and Koraput. To make the project financially viable, the bus service is running in between two nearby towns like Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri, Sambalpur-Jharsuguda, etc, an official in the H&UD department said.
Eleven buses in Sambalpur and 18 in Berhampur are lying idle while the fate of newly procured 200 buses is not known, thanks to government’s indecisiveness regarding the routes — within city limits and beyond — these vehicles could be run, he said.
The city bus services were running well in the towns. However, problems have cropped up when the government has stopped giving route permits to new buses following objections from All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association which is opposing running of city buses on inter-city routes like Bhubaneswar-Puri.
To resolve the issue, a meeting was held in the presence of ministers and secretaries of both H&UD and Transport departments March 14 this year. At that meeting, it was decided to form a high-level committee under the chairmanship of transport secretary to examine the issues of private bus operators and recommend necessary steps and procedures on the running of city buses within and inter-cities.
Among other members of the seven-member panel are transport commissioner, H&UD secretary and MD of Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services Ltd (BPTCL). The panel has been asked to submit report within three months from its constitution.
As per minutes of the meeting, the government had also decided not to give new permits to the city buses to ply on any inter-city routes of the state. However, they have allowed the existing buses having permits to ply on the inter-city routes.
Interestingly, the panel was constituted June 19, 2018 even though the decision was taken in March. The high-level committee led by Transport Secretary G Srinivas is yet to submit its report.
The panel has met only once June 27, 2018. At that meeting, the panel had heard the issues of Private Bus Owners’ Association and decided to hear from collectors and RTOs of the districts where the city bus service is being introduced. It was also decided to submit the report within the deadline. Ironically, no further meeting of the committee was held.
Similarly, at another meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi held in December last year, it was decided that the Transport department would come up with guidelines for issuance of area-based permits to BPTS (which is now merged with Capital Region Urban Transport) and other special purpose vehicles (SPVs) formed to run city buses in various towns of the state. However, this is yet to be implemented.
Sources said the government may not go for such bold move now as the general elections are nearing and there is a strong lobby of private bus operators. The delay in decision taking is indirectly helping the private bus owners, they said. Reacting to the issue, Private Bus Owners’ Association spokesperson Debasish Nayak said, “We are not opposing city bus service of government. But, the city buses should run within the city only, not outside the city. If they operate on other routes, where our buses will run?”
When asked about the issue, a senior Transport department official said, “H&UD department has to seek specific route permits from transport commissioner to run buses between two cities while the proposal for issuance of area- based permits is under examination.”
However, no new permit will be given to any city buses to ply on inter-city routes till a decision is taken, he maintained.
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