Rourkela, Nov. 9: The inter-city transport system got a boost with 10 new buses being introduced today.

The vehicles will operate within 50km radius of the city. District collector B.S. Punia flagged off the new fleet.

"Initially, these will originate from Rourkela railway station," said Rourkela Municipal Corporation commissioner Durga Prasad Mohapatra. This is a joint initiative of the Sundargarh Urban Transport Trust and Sampark, a group of private operators, who will manage the operation.

"Sampark has been provided with a space at the Sector-2 Odisha State Road Transport Corporation office, and we will take care of everything from maintenance, driver payment and other incidental expenses," said Sampark's M.K. Sahu.

The Sundargarh collector heads the trust. Other members are the Rourkela additional district magistrate, RMC commissioner, executive officers of Rajgangpur and Biramitrapur municipalities and the Rourkela Steel Plant representatives. Sahu also said that every month Sampark would pay Rs 3.2 lakh as deposit towards the bus provided by the government and another Rs 1,800 as charges.

In next one month, another 20 buses will join the fleet, as seven are undergoing repair.

On May 1, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had flagged off six buses kicking off the city bus services. The buses will have GPS installation. Besides, there are other modern facilities such as announcement system where the passengers would be informed about the destinations and automatic gates. The state government would decide on the fares.