Bhubaneswar, Aug. 24: First it was January 1 and then June 30. Now, the authorities of the Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL) are hoping that the main terminal for city bus services at Pokhariput will be ready by the first week of September.

The main terminal has become necessary with bus operators needing specific bays for washing, repairing and maintenance of buses. The current terminal at Master Canteen only provides parking facility for buses on a temporary basis.

Mayor and BPTSL chairman Ananta Narayan Jena told The Telegraph that the main terminal would be ready by August 31 or September 1 coinciding with either the Local Self-Government Day or the foundation day of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA). In fact, BDA is constructing the main terminal as part of the responsibility as a stakeholder working for infrastructure development.

January 1 was at first fixed as the deadline for getting the main terminal ready. But the construction was not complete by then and the deadline was shifted to June 30. That too came and went. Trying to explain the delay, a senior engineer of BDA said: “Actually, the deadline was set for a bus terminal with boundary wall, water source, lights and a waiting room, but later the service operators — Dream Team Sahara (DTS) — wanted some changes to be made in the plan and so, the construction took more time.”

He added, however, that even if the main terminal was ready, tentatively by September 1, all the changes as demanded by the bus operators might not be available. Those would be added gradually.

A source at DTS said: “There was a plan to provide three ramps with sheds for both big and small buses at the proposed terminal with washing, tyre-changing and repairing facilities. But the new terminal at Pokhariput is yet to have a ramp and the water supply tank is too small to provide water even for five buses. The resting sheds are also not big enough to accommodate five staff members.”

A senior official of DTS alleged: “Even the present city bus terminal at Master Canteen doesn’t have toilet and drinking water facilities. There is a huge pressure for more buses for new routes, but basic facilities are not available there. As the buses run from early morning till 10pm, the Master Canteen depot should have resting facilities but nothing is available.”

Origin and destination (OD) terminals are needed in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri so that the buses can be parked after ending their route duty for the day.

At present, they either have to return to the Master Canteen terminal or park on the roadside. Five OD terminals are needed in Bhubaneswar and two each in Cuttack and Puri.

“Once the main terminal is ready, we will start work on the OD terminals as the state government has already allotted land for them,” said the BPTSL chairman.

Some BPTSL officials said a bus terminal could not be expected to have all facilities in a single day. It’s a gradual process. But team members of DTS are not happy. “We cannot use the main terminal at Pokhariput if facilities are lacking. We are already facing several difficulties. During rath yatra, the absence of washing bay/ramp created problems as more buses were used. Our employees had to carry buckets of water to wash the vehicles,” said a DTS manager. The original plan for the terminal says that the exclusive depot-cum-bus terminal for the city bus service at Pokhariput will be spread over 4.5 acres and will be able to accommodate 150 buses.