Bhubaneswar, Aug. 7: Residents of Kalinga Vihar and Patrapada are suffering, as Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL) is yet to introduce city bus services in these areas.

Aggrieved by the apathetic attitude of the government, the resident welfare associations of both the areas reached out to the housing and urban development department to apprise them of the sorry state of public transport in their area and demand immediate provision.

"Kalinga Vihar is a recently developed residential area of the city, which houses a large chunk of the city's population. Our area lacks basic infrastructure such as streetlights and waste bins and more. Absence of public transport is adding to our woes," said Dinesh Acharya, a resident here.

The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) started allotting land to the owners at Kalinga Vihar and Patrapada in 2014. These are extended parts of the city located around 5 km from Khandagiri on both sides of the National Highway 5.

The residents of both these areas suffer as the areas are not included in the boundary of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) as yet, which leads to no access of the civic body in the area for taking up any new road or streetlight project or ensuring solid waste management.

"I work at Ashok Nagar and travel daily from my home in Patrapada to my office on my motorbike. Sometimes it gets difficult when my motorcycle malfunctions. I don't have any other option to go back home," said Sitanshu Mishra, who works with a private firm.

BPTSL has been operating one city bus on the route to Kalinga Vihar till Sum Hospital while on the Patrapada route, there is another city bus that goes till the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The distance between Sum Hospital and Kalinga Vihar is about 3 km while the same between Patrapada and AIIMS is about 2 km.

Residents say the apathy of the administration is to blame for the minimal number of bus it runs in such a densely populated and important area of the state capital. "It is fine that they are operating one bus to the area, but what would it take for them to extend the route up to our area," wondered another Kalinga Vihar resident, Sashi Nayak, a homemaker.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, who is also the chairperson of BPTSL, said efforts are on to strengthen public transport in the city. "The entire city will be connected with city bus services shortly with the addition of 500 buses. We procured 20 buses recently and are in the process of identifying routes for them. We will consider the demand of the citizens and the run the buses accordingly," said Jena.