Passengers wait for city bus service to resume at the Master Canteen Square depot in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 3: City bus service was disrupted for the third consecutive day today with the ongoing students’ agitation causing a revenue loss of Rs 6 lakh to the state exchequer and hardship to commuters.

According to a rough estimate, nearly 36,000 passengers depend on the city buses everyday to travel to various parts of the city as well as to Cuttack and Puri. Altogether, 84 buses make 850 trips daily on an average, generating a revenue of Rs 3.5 lakh. Approximate daily net revenue gain will be around Rs 2.25 lakh after deducting the cost of fuel.

“We have been incurring huge loss for the last three days. We have to pay salary to around 400 employees who had no other option but to sit idle for the students’ protest,” said Sudhanshu Jena, chief executive officer of Dream Team Sahara, which operates the government-owned city bus service.

“Our buses will not ply until a permanent solution comes out. We cannot take any risk as any untoward incident can happen at any moment. Like other metros, we are planning to introduce monthly and daily passes for regular commuters shortly,” said Jena.

City mayor Anant Narayan Jena, who is also the chairman of Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Services Limited, said: “The students have disrupted the city bus service without any notice.”

Commuters across the city were seen waiting for the city buses. “The bus service is not meant for the students only. Thousands of others also depend on this public transport service, which is a lifeline of the city,” said Sarat Kumar Sahoo, a resident of Puri.

Angry commuters, who could not avail the bus service, also criticised the students and asked them to demand buses from their respective institutes. “If they really need free bus service, they should ask their college authorities to arrange buses just like some private engineering colleges have buses to pick and drop their own students,” said Bipin Jena, a commuter who had to wait for more than two hours to go to Dumduma. Autorickshaw operators were in a mood to make a quick buck in the absence of the city buses. Autorickshaw drivers allegedly charged almost double the usual fare.

“The autorickshaws are demanding more money than usual. We are forced to dance to their tunes as there are no other alternatives,” said Binodini Behera, a daily commuter.

The agitating students have threatened to continue their protest till their demand is met.