Patna, Oct. 16: Road transport from Bihar to neighbouring Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Bengal is going to become smoother.
The state transport department has planned to introduce luxury, deluxe and semi-deluxe inter-state buses connecting the four states.
Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC), an undertaking of the state transport department, has already invited operators to commence the bus services between the four states. “Agreements with the respective states have already been made for the bus service and we have invited operators to run the buses on the approved routes. Apart from private operators, BSRTC may also provide its own buses, including luxury AC and non-AC deluxe buses, on these routes,” said an officer of BSRTC.
Total 12 routes have been approved for the bus service between Bihar and Orissa. Buses on many of these routes would ply via various district headquarters in Jharkhand.
With regard to Bihar-Chhattisgarh bus services, 28 routes have been approved by the governments of the two states. Three of these routes would connect Patna to Ambikapur, Jaspur and Kunkuri. Total 26 routes have been planned for the bus service between Bihar and Bengal. Four such routes would connect Patna to Howrah, Calcutta, Durgapur and Siliguri.
The governments of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have also planned similar bus service. A total of 101 luxury buses — 68 semi-deluxe, 24 AC and nine Volvo buses — are proposed to run on 26 routes between the two states. The bus service would run in public-private-partnership mode.
BSRTC is also planning to start luxury bus service between Bihar and Jharkhand by this Diwali. A total of 92 luxury buses would run on 17 routes between the two states.
While 10 of these routes would connect Patna to the other district headquarters in the state, seven routes would take citizens from Patna, Gaya and Bhagalpur to four district headquarters in Jharkhand. The permit for Bihar-Jharkhand routes have already been obtained by BSRTC and the corporation is waiting for buses to be delivered to the state.
