Bhubaneswar: In order to provide a faster connectivity between State capital Bhubaneswar and district headquarters across the State, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday flagged off Odisha State Road Transport Corporation’s (OSRTC) AC bus services “Rajdhani” bus service.
The service will connect State capital Bhubaneswar to various district headquarters across Odisha with AC bus services. In the first phase the service will cover 11 routes with 23 buses.
The new buses having free wi-fi, CCTV, mobile charging, including GPS tracking and drinking water bottles on board facilities will ply from Bhubaneswar to Phulbani, Rourkela, Bhawanipatna, Bhanjanagar, Rajagangpur via Sundergarh, Rakkhariar via Bolangir, Gorumahisani via Karanjia and Burla via Sambalpur, in the first phase.
The buses, which were rolled out in the first phase, were also used to transport the players during the Men’s Hockey World Cup scheduled in the Capita in December last year.
With launching of the service, passengers now will reach Bhubaneswar in the morning and can return in the night.
The Chief Minister said that rest of the district will be covered shortly.
The Chief Minister also launched four VOLVO buses for plying from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata and Paradip and Vizayawada. Currently, at least 429 OSRTC buses are operating in 30 districts and in 43 inter-State routes covering Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
Transport Minister Nursingha Sahu and OSRTC Chairman-cum-Managing Director KB Singh was present.
