Bhubaneswar, March 27: Poor maintenance has hit Baramunda bus stand, the largest and busiest terminus in the city, which caters to almost 1,000 public transport vehicles every day.

Last year, Rs 2.38 crore had been sanctioned to improve the terminus's infrastructure. This year, the transport department has again allocated Rs 2 crore to solve further problems.

On March 16, chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi held a high-level meeting with officials of works and transport departments. In the meeting, it was viewed that the terminus was in a dire need of a makeover.

Sources said the chief secretary had directed the works department to improve its infrastructure while the transport department would look after increasing the capacity of the terminus in order to accommodate more buses.

This time, the plan includes improvement of the overall infrastructure such as bus bays, approach roads, parking facilities, waiting rooms, toilet provisions and sanitation around the area.

Ironically, the same infrastructure problems had been addressed last year.

On May 2 last year, transport minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi had said: "The funds will be spent on road repairs as well as renovating the bus bays that are filled with craters, ditches and garbage. Besides, around Rs 23 lakh would be spent on building separate toilets for men and women. The existing toilets would be renovated and new ones will come up for the employees."

However, the same issues have again cropped up at the bus stand. Potholes dot the approach roads to the bus stand as well as the stretch that connects it with a nearby flyover. Piles of garbage are seen scattered around the terminus.

Though it had been promised to ensure 24-hour water supply at the facility, most of the taps remain defunct. Sanitation has gone haywire at the toilets. The cemented benches are not cleaned and gates at both the entry and exit points are yet to be built.

This time, the state government has decided to entrust the construction and maintenance job of the bus stand with the public works department and ruled out tie-up with any private party.

A senior transport department official said that they would shortly have a meeting with the works department engineers to decide on the maintenance and development of the facility.

"The bus stand is in an urgent need of a makeover in terms of parking facility. It often becomes difficult to park the buses properly due to lack of space at the terminus. Moreover, the interior roads are filled with potholes that makes difficult for the buses to pass by," said Sangram Nayak, a night coach owner.

Moreover, the chief secretary viewed sanitation as a major issue of the bus stand and directed officials to maintain it around the terminus.

Last month, municipal commissioner Krishan Kumar had visited the terminus and termed it as the dirtiest place of the city in a tweet. At that time, he had visited various shops, eateries and vending zones inside the bus stand area and slapped a fine of nearly Rs 10,000 on the violators of the solid waste management rules.

"We are working hard to maintain the sanitation in and around the bus stand. We have also asked our enforcement officials to visit the facility regularly and ensure proper cleanliness," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.