Govt to add 300 city buses in Odisha capital ahead of Hockey World Cup

Bhubaneswar: In view of possible crowd in Bhubaneswar during the month of November for Men’s Hockey World Cup, Odisha government decided to add 300 more city buses in the city ahead of the mega hockey event.

The city buses will be plying on different routes in Bhubaneswar under the newly formed Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT).

The move came at a high level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here at State Secretariat on Friday.

Expediting the modernisation work of CRUT, the government assigned two firms — Narmada Travels and Traveltime — for operation of city buses in Bhubaneswar before the commencement of Men’s Hockey World Cup scheduled at Kalinga Stadium on November 28.

Besides, the government has also decided to set up two new depots at Patia and Patrapada locations in Bhubaneswar for the city buses.

Two packages have been prepared for operation of the city buses on various routes connecting the master plan areas of Bhubaneswar, Puri and Cuttack. In first package, 50 standard AC buses and 50 normal standard non-AC buses will be brought. In second package, 29-seater 100 middle standard buses will be purchased.

The authorities are also planning to bring 30 buses from Cuttack for operation from Bhubaneswar. Subsequently, 10 more buses will be brought from Balasore.

Currently, 110 city buses are plying on various routes to Cuttack and Puri from Bhubaneswar.

Notably, the CRUT was set up by merging Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services and Cuttack Transport Services to provide bus services in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri and Konark urban areas.