Berhampur bus stand. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, June 10: “Lack of space” in the main bus stand in this town has resulted in frequent traffic congestions on the busy Courtpeta-Gate Bazar Road as private bus service operators continue to park their vehicles on the main thoroughfare in front of it.

“The problem of parking the private buses inside the bus stand started after the district administration provided six berth ways of the stand to the Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) buses from January 1,” said Munir Beg, secretary of the Ganjam Bus Owners’ Association.

The bus stand, managed by the Berhampur Development Authority, is being used by about 350 private buses, 50 private express buses and 28 OSRTC buses. “The police are harassing all the private bus operators and not allowing us to park inside the bus stand,” Beg said.

“The police have restricted our entry into the bus stand after evening. We need to park our vehicles for at least 15 to 20 minutes before our journey to various destinations begins. If we are not allowed to park inside the stand, the only option left for us is to park the buses in front of the stand on the main road. We had earlier approached Berhampur Development Authority chairman Kailash Rana and police superintendent Safin Ahmed K. to solve our problem. But, they are yet to respond,” he said.

Rana said there were a total of 22 berth ways in the bus stand, of which, only six had been allotted for the OSRTC buses. The remaining 16 berths are enough for all other express and ordinary buses.

“There is enough space for parking inside the bus stand. The private bus operators are deliberately parking on the main road,” Rana said.

The old bus stand of the town, which was used as the parking space of all the OSRTC buses for past 61 years, was vacated on January 1 this year. Subsequently, six berths in the present bus stand were allocated to the OSRTC buses. Twenty-eight OSRTC buses, including 13 buses of Berhampur zone and 15 buses of other zones, ply through the present bus stand everyday.

The Berhampur Municipal Corporation is planning to construct a multi-storey parking slot on the old bus stand premises, which, upon completion, would be used for parking all kinds of vehicles on payment of a fee.