Residents of Sambalpur depend on autorickshaws in the absence of buses. Telegraph picture

Sambalpur, Jan. 14: The much-awaited city bus service is likely to begin here from the Republic Day.

Chief executive officer of the Western Odisha Urban Transport Service Limited Aniruddha Padhan said: “We are planning to launch the city bus service on January 26. A private operator has already been selected to run the service.”

The service will be operated in the public-private partnership mode. The Western Odisha Urban Transport Service Limited will be responsible for the overall management of the bus service.

“A private operator, Paschim Odisha Paribahan Company, has been short listed for running the city bus service,” said Padhan, adding that 32 buses had been procured for the service.

“The buses are in Bhubaneswar now,” he said.

Preparations are on to make the city roads free of obstruction for the smooth plying of the buses. Sambalpur Municipality, which is also a stakeholder of the Western Odisha Urban Transport Service Limited, has already taken a decision to evict the encroachment from the city roads. The municipality has also issued notices to around 200 kiosks set up illegally along the main roads.

Four routes have been proposed for the city bus. These are Khetrajpur-Ainthapali, Ainthapali-Dhanupali, Dhanupali-Samaleswari temple and city railway station-Government bus stand. It has also been proposed to extend the city bus service to the nearby towns of Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Burla and Hirakud.