Bhubaneswar: With the change of the government in Odisha, the affordable rural bus service under LAccMI scheme will be renamed as Mukhyamantri Bus Seva.

The LAccMI bus service in rural areas will continue but under a new scheme. The name will be changed into Mukhyamantri Bus Seva, informed the Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhusan Jena today.

However, the bus fare for women and students will remain unchanged, he said. Earlier, the women passengers and students were availing the bus service at only Rs 5.

The LAccMI bus service was launched by the previous BJD government led by Naveen Patnaik on October 12, 2023 with an aim to connect gram panchayats with block and district headquarters. The Location Accessible Multi-modal Initiative scheme was implemented in five phases to augment the public transport system across the state.

For the scheme, the state government had allocated a budget of Rs 3,178 crore for three (03) years i.e., from FY 2023-24 to FY 2025-26.