TV
The Location Accessible Multi-modal Initiative (LAccMI) buses have turned out to be white elephants for the government they have caused a whooping Rs 374 crore loss in just 10 months.
To find out how profitable the LAccMI bus service launched a few months before the general elections by the previous BJD government was; two districts Malkangiri and Balasore were taken as cases in point.
In Malkangiri, the bus was seen plying but with most of its seats vacant. The same thing was witnessed in Balasore. A bus was seen with 24 seats out of 38 lying vacant.
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“Office goers and school and college students are travelling on these buses. All are availing of benefits,” said a passenger, Malkangiri.
In the Odisha Assembly, while replying to a question, Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhusan Jena said the government suffered a loss of Rs 374,08,58,000 during the period between October 12, 2023 and August 19, 2024.
Under the LAccMI yojana, a total of 1340 buses are plying. While the government spent Rs 399,12,44,000 for this, its income stood at Rs 25,03,86,000.
“The (LAccMI) buses were necessary for locations not connected by any government or private bus service. When providing service is the motive behind any yojana, the government there doesn’t consider profit or loss,” said BJD MLA Dhruba Sahu.
Coming down heavily on the previous BJD government, Congress MLA Mangu Khila said, “Whenever an election was around the corner, the previous government would announce various schemes and yojanas. It (LAccMI bus service) was one of them. It was running with losses. Let’s see what this government will do with this.”
Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhusan Jena said, “We will form a committee that will analyse the pros and cons and then a decision will be taken on how to provide better service to the people.”
