A city bus in Berhampur. Telegraph picture

Berhampur, Jan. 23: The Odisha State Road Transport Corporation is reluctant operate the proposed city bus service in Berhampur.

After failing to get response from private parties, the state government had approached the corporation to take charge of the operation.

The government had twice floated tenders, in June and December last year, for the bus service, but no bidder came forward, said Ajit Kumar Mishra, chief executive officer of Ganjam Urban Transport Services Limited (GUTSL).

Dilip Kumar Upadhyaya, divisional works engineer of the corporation said he had recently discussed the matter with the chairman-cum-managing director of the body.

“We have expertise in running public buses. But, we have shortage of experienced drivers. Also, we are busy with the project of plying 100 small buses to be deployed on selected routes of Maoist-affected areas. So, we are reluctant to take up the job of running the city bus service in Berhampur,” said Upadhyaya.

“The project is being taken up in pubic-private partnership mode by the Berhampur Development Authority. Ganjam district collector heads the GUTSL. Commissioner of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation is its CEO and its members are chairman and chairpersons of Hinjili, Gopalpur and Chhatrapur notified area councils. The GUTSL is the apex policy-making body of city bus service and its office will run from the unused building of the development authority. According to a government proposal, 32 buses, including three air-conditioned ones, would be deployed in the city. The government has sanctioned Rs 5.10 crore for the purpose,” said Mishra.

The city bus service of Berhampur would run on both intra-city and inter-city routes. Three inter-city routes and five intra-city routes have been chosen in the initial stage. The inter-city routes include those of Berhampur-Gopalpur, Berhampur-Chatrapur and Gopalpur-Chatrapur. It has been proposed that city buses would make 26 trips on Berhampur-Gopalpur route, 24 trips on Berhampur-Chatrapur route and 12 trips on Gopalpur-Chatraur route everyday. The buses would make about 48 trips on each of the five intra-city routes everyday.