Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government will launch bus services to important tourist destinations across the country from the State soon, Commerce & Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena said today.

After a high-level review meeting with officials, the Minister also said that bus services will be provided from each block headquarters of Odisha to pilgrim town Puri during the upcoming Ratha Jatra of the Holy Trinity. Special services are to be rolled out by Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC).

Much-debated LAccMI scheme is likely to be renamed. Eco-friendly EV (electric vehicle) buses will run across the State under the Pradhan Mantri E-Bus Seva scheme. Bus services will be provided in places where there is no bus connectivity. Proper arrangements will be made by the Government for people’s movement in the State no matter what the scheme is. Accordingly, buses will ply to and fro places such as Machhkund-Bhubaneswar, Baliguda-Cuttack, and Umerkote-Visakhapatnam, the Minister stated.

Prominent pilgrim sites in India, to where the special bus service is to be rolled out, include Ayodhya, Tirupati, Vrindavan, Varanasi etc. Moreover, the buses older than 15 years will be scrapped.

Worth mentioning, a first review meeting of the OSRTC officials was held here today.