Odisha: Private bus operators may take more time to resume services

BHUBANESWAR: Though the government has lifted the restrictions on the movement of buses across the state, the private operators may take some more days to resume their services in 10 districts, including Khurda and Cuttack. Meanwhile, the city bus services in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack will start from Monday.
Until now, buses were allowed to ply in 20 of the state’s 30 districts.
In the latest Covid-19 guidelines issued on Thursday, the government has allowed intra-state public transport in Nayagarh, Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj. Bus services to and from Puri town will remain suspended until the midnight of July 25. But inter-state bus services will remain suspended until 6am of August 1.
Debendra Kumar Sahoo, general secretary of the All Odisha Bus Owners’ Association, said, “We will first discuss our issues including loans, insurance, bank EMIs and taxes with transport minister Padmanabh Behera on Saturday before resuming the services.”
He added, “Most of the buses require maintenance because they were off the roads for several months. But we don’t have money for maintenance. As many bus owners could not pay their loans for more than three months, the banks may not grant us loans. We will seek the minister’s intervention to help us avail ourselves of loans for starting the services again.”
He further said the association will also request the minister to waive the taxes for the months of August and September. \
Only 20% of the total buses are plying in 20 districts after getting a green signal from the state government on June 30. “We have not resumed the services in the remaining 10 districts yet. After Saturday’s meeting, we will take a decision on that. We have around 14,000 buses across the state,” Sahoo said.
The Capital Region Urban Transport, which provides public transit services within the capital city of Bhubaneswar and its neighbouring cities of Cuttack and Puri, will resume the regular ‘Mo Bus‘ service from Monday.
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