TV
As many as 35 air-conditioned battery-operated buses have been gathering rust and dust in the parking space at Samang in Puri for the last 10 months, thanks to the alleged lack of foresight of the district administration.
As per reports, at the time of the Srimandir Heritage Corridor Project, these ultra-modern buses were purchased. These 25-seater buses have elevator facilities for Divyangs. The outer sides of these buses bear the logo of the temple administration and pictures of cultural activities.
It was decided then that these buses would be used to ferry devotees from Samang to Jagannath Ballav. Even the test drives of these vehicles were also conducted on Shree Setu.
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But, since then, these buses have been lying unused for the last 10 months. The alleged lack of maintenance has already taken a toll on two buses.
Meanwhile, starting from servitors to devotees they demanded that instead of engaging private buses to ferry habishyalis (brata holders) in Kartik month these buses should be used for the purpose.
"Spending crores of rupees from the government exchequer, 35 buses were purchased and handed over to the temple administration. The plan was to ferry devotees to Srimandir. It has lost its way and the buses are lying unused. Two buses have already been damaged. Is there a motive to auction away the buses at throwaway prices? We can’t tolerate this. We demand these buses should be used in the coming Kartik month to ferry habishyalis and tourists,” said Sarat Raiguru, senior advocate.
Expressing his concern, senior servitor Binayak Das Mohapatra said, “We would like to request the chief administrator of the temple to run these buses anyhow, at least in the Kartik month to ferry devotees. If no step is taken to run the buses, several political parties, organisations and devotees will soon gherao the administration and seek explanations.”
To run these buses on a regular basis, charging points for them are required. It is alleged that the plan has failed because the vehicles were purchased spending crores without thinking about the infrastructure required for them.
Meanwhile, the district administration is contemplating running these buses. As the SJTA doesn’t have experience of running buses, it is being discussed that the vehicles would be handed over to the Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) after a discussion with the Transport department.
When asked, Puri district Collector Siddharth Shankar Swain said, “The buses were handed over to the temple administration. Since the temple administration is not the right agency to run them, it has been finalised that the Transport and Commerce department will manage them. In the coming days, the buses will be handed over to CRUT for smooth functioning.
