Bhubaneswar, Dec. 15: December 15 came and went and one more promise was broken.

The Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL) could not meet the December 15 deadline for the main bus terminal at Pokhariput, origin and destination (OD) terminals at five places and 21 bus bays across the city. Infrastructure facilities for the city bus service remain incomplete.

Officials of BPTSL said they would again write letters to the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) for the main bus terminal and OD terminals and would ask the Public Works Department (PWD) to complete the bus bays as early as possible. At a joint stakeholders’ meeting on November 24, the agencies concerned had promised that the main and OD terminals and 21 bus bays would be ready for use today.

At present, city bus operator Dream Team Sahara (DTS) is running 95 buses on 12 routes, including services for Puri and Cuttack. But the single depot at Master Canteen Square is the only place used to park the buses and there are no facilities such as drinking water, toilet and washing ramps to clean the buses.

“We are facing great difficulty in running the buses without any infrastructure. There is no facility to repair the vehicles either. Since October 10, 2010, a series of promises were made to provide basic facilities. But there was no visible progress. The BDA authorities were to hand over the main bus terminal at Pokhariput by January 1. The deadline was then shifted to June 30 and subsequently to August 31, but nothing happened. After that, at the November 24 joint stakeholders’ meeting, the new deadline became December 15. That too was not met,’’ said a senior official of DTS.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities had even printed cards for the inauguration of the Pokhariput bus terminal on Local Self Government Day on August 31. They had to cancel the programme.

BPTSL chairman and mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: “Infrastructure development is a multi-agency responsibility and it will be available very soon. We are going to request both BDA and PWD to deliver on their promises. The general administration department has already allocated five plots to build the OD terminals in Bhubaneswar.’’

A senior official of the housing and urban development department said: “All facilities for buses, such as washing and repairing bays, water source and a rest room for the staff, are almost complete. There was a delay in setting up the lighting and building the approach road.’’

As per plan, the exclusive depot-cum-bus terminal for the city bus service at Pokhariput would be spread over an area of 4.5 acres and would accommodate more than 100 buses. The BDA has been asked by the state government to construct the facility with minimum infrastructure.

Bus bays in the city are yet to be marked with signage displaying bus numbers and routes. “The lack of signs poses a problem to city bus commuters,’’ said Niytananda Mandal, a research scientist who travels by city buses regularly.