Sambalpur, April 24: The Paschim Odisha Paribahan Company (Popco) is making arrangements to give city bus passengers a comfortable ride this summer.
The company, which has partnered with the state government to run the city bus service here, has started hanging cotton screens on the windows of the city buses to protect the passengers from direct sunlight. It is also making drinking water arrangements in the buses.
The mercury in Sambalpur is hovering around 45°C for sometime now. A weather bulletin issued by the Indian Meteorological Department yesterday revealed that west Odisha had remained the hottest place in the country for the past five days. Several cases of sunstroke have also been reported from various parts of the region recently.
"We have already provided cotton screens to five city buses. We will hang the screens in the remaining buses shortly. We hope this will give the heat-struck passengers some relief," said chief executive officer of Popco Bipin Bhatia.
At present, 29 city buses are running on 12 routes in Sambalpur. The bus service has been receiving good response here ever since it started with six buses in January 29, 2014. Hundreds of people prefer to travel on the city buses because of its comfort and safety features.
"We have also asked the staff members not to carry passengers more than the sitting capacity. Considering the heatwave, some buses are also being cancelled during the daytime,"said Bhatia.
People are happy over the arrangements made to deal with the heat. "The mercury is rising with each passing day. These arrangements were essential for us," said a resident of the city, Dhirendra Padhee, who commutes on the city bus every day.
Another commuter, Sandeep Chowdhury, also welcomed the move. However, he said that passengers were suffering because of the absence of designated bus stops. "There was a proposal to develop 42 bus stops in Sambalpur, Burla and Hirakud, but the plan is yet to see the light of the day. The bus stops would have made the journey more convenient," he said.
