Bhubaneswar: The state government is planning to ban plying of private buses in cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri with a view to check the monopoly of private city bus operators.
Chairing a high-level meeting on implementation of Bhubaneswar city bus modernisation project (BCBMP) here at the Secretariat recently, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi has asked the commerce and transport (C&T) department to ensure that all the intra-city bus routes along with peri-urban area connectivity are reserved for the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed to run city-bus services.
In other words, all bus routes in these cities, including the periphery areas, will be reserved only for the SPV.
It was decided at the meeting to merge Cuttack Urban Transport Services Ltd (CUTSL) with Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Service (BPTS).
After the merger, the jurisdiction of new entity (SPV), will include master plan areas of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) and Puri-Konark Development Authority (PKDA).
The government would also bring necessary scheme/guidelines required for nationalisation of city bus routes after examining case studies of other cities, where such steps have been taken to reinforce city bus services, an official in the Housing and Urban development (H&UD) department told Orissa POST.
On the mushrooming of auto rickshaws in Bhubaneswar area, H&UD department has been asked to move a proposal to Commerce and Transport (C&T) department for issuance of guidelines on capping of numbers, route planning etc for bringing discipline in plying of autos in city, the official said.
The government would also work out a plan for conversion of diesel/petrol auto rickshaws to e-auto rickshaws in the Bhubaneswar area on priority basis, he pointed out.
Besides, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has prepared a draft of e-vehicle policy for providing various fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to the investors.
The state government has also decided to expedite the process of running more number of buses to ensure at least 300 buses would be running by November 2018, well before the Hockey World Cup 2018. Moreover, BPTS is in the process of augmenting its bus fleet to about 600 buses by 2020 and to 1200 by 2025.
PNN
