Badambadi bus stand is poised to get a new address. Striving to adorn the avatar of a modern bus terminal laced with state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities, the major bus stand of the State will be shifted across river Kathjodi to Gopalpur.
The groundwork for shifting of the bus stand has been set in motion with the district administration identifying 42.64 acre of Government land under Gopalpur Mouza.
Encroachment-free and easily accessible from multiple points on the National Highway-5, the identified land has been vetted by a high-level committee of the Government. The process of handover of the identified land to the Transport Department will be completed soon, Collector Girish SN said.
The decision to move the bus stand out of its present location at Badambadi has been taken with the twin objective of giving it a modern shape with adequate parking space for vehicles and passenger facilities as well as decongesting the vital stretch from Badambadi to Madhupatna.
Strategically located, the new location will come as a boon to the bus drivers and passengers.
The drivers would no longer have to wriggle through the grossly over-burdened Link Road stretch. For the passengers, though the new location might appear a bit distant, it would be more convenient as it ensures faster travelling time sans the hassles of negotiating through the congestion at the present location.
The Badambadi bus stand sees a traffic of more than 1,000 buses on an average every day.
Congestion apart, the condition of the bus stand is worse than miserable without having even basic minimum amenities like lavatories, drinking water supply or even a proper shelter.
As per the plans, the main private bus stand along with that of the Angul-Talcher, Paradip and Puri ones will be taken to the new terminus which will be adequately equipped with modern infrastructure and facilities. The 42 acre land would also additionally provide idle parking space for vehicles.
Presently, hundreds of buses are lined up along Link Road day and night due to lack of parking space. Eating into the road width, they are a major nuisance and contributor to the congestion on the stretch.
The existing bus stand would also be developed into a modern facility to be used by the OSRTC buses, city bus service as well as buses plying within the Twin city. The night plying buses, though, will be allowed to move in through Badambadi for convenience of passengers, sources said.
Modalities of execution of the project will be finalised after the land is handed over, the Transport department sources said.