Bhubaneswar: The state government, Sunday, suspended the movement of inter-state bus services from Monday morning to prevent the entry and exit of buses carrying passengers to the state and also from outside the state to halt the spread of new cases of coronavirus.
In a notification issued by the office of the Transport Commissioner, it was announced that the inter-state bus services are now been suspended for indefinite period till further notice from the department. The department cited threat from coronavirus for taking the decision.
The notification said, “COVID-19 has become pandemic and the whole world is affected by the deadly virus. There is no specific treatment or vaccine till now for COVID 19 and only precaution of the highest degrees is required to decelerate the spread of the virus.”
Giving details about the suspension of bus services, the office said that all interstate bus operations to and from Odisha will remain suspended till further orders. Inter-state buses coming from other states will not be allowed to reach their destination in Odisha after 11am from March 23. Similarly no inter-state bus will be allowed to operate to other states from Odisha after 11am from March 23.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has expressed his gratitude to the people of Odisha for giving wholehearted support to ‘Janata Curfew’ and has appealed for similar cooperation from the people of Odisha for the ‘Lockdown’.
The Railway Board has already declared closure of all Passenger Trains with immediate effect up to midnight of March 31. The trains en-route shall be allowed to reach their destination however.
The state government and the railway department earlier were struggling to ensure adequate screening of passengers as thousands of passengers availed the railway services and there were shortage of screening gadgets and trained manpower for proper screening.