Called the education corridor of the State, this town does not have a bus terminus to boast of. An open piece of land in the market which has a concrete floor and a few shops at the entrance is all that the terminus. Thousands visit the town which houses the VSS Medical, considered the lifeline of western Odisha.
Burla also is home to Sambalpur University, which monitors Higher Education in colleges across 10 districts of western Odisha and VSS University of Technology. Bus is the only source of communication besides hired vehicles to reach the place. Yet the bus terminus neither has a toilet, drinking water facility nor rest shed. And the miseries forced upon the commuters and passengers can best be gauged from it.
The town which grew along with Hirakud Dam is situated 15 km from Sambalpur town and one has to take a bus to reach Burla. There are buses from Bargarh which pass through Burla en route Sambalpur for the convenience of the passengers. But devoid of basic passenger amenities, commuters in particular patients discharged from the hospital face a harrowing time waiting for buses. They either take shelter in shops which dot the Burla Market or in betel shops which have sprung up near the bus terminus.
Elected NAC councillors have preferred to close their eyes to the problem. Interestingly, all this when more than 50 buses pass through Burla and around 15 buses originate from this town for far off places including Berhampur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela.
While Burla Private Bus Owners Association president Pawan Saha said that they had drawn the attention of the NAC to develop the terminus, they continue to ignore their request even though each bus which enters Burla NAC limit contributes ` 10 a day.
Burla NAC chairperson Chandrabati Naik said that the council had adopted a resolution to construct a public toilet in the bus terminus. Plans were afoot also to build a rest shed and ensure that water kiosk functions, she added.