BHUBANESWAR : Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday flagged off 110 new inter-State buses of Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) at its office near the AG square in the Capital city.
He said that the OSRTC will run 70 more such buses soon. At present, the OSRTC is running 398 buses in 28 districts of the State and 43 inter-state routes to Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
The buses have been equipped keeping maximum comfort of the passengers in view. The state-of-the-art passenger vehicles will have facilities like CCTV camera, emergency button, vehicle tracking system, fire extinguishing system and ITMS to provide vital information.
The Chief Minister also inaugurated two Mo Bus depots at Patia and Bhagawanpur. The modern depots have servicing facility for the buses. Later, he inaugurated Odisha Tourism Development (OTDC)’s first ‘Nimantran’ restaurant in the city to promote Odia cuisine. The restaurant located near the RD Women’s College, was inaugurated on the occasion of 42nd foundation day of the OTDC. A dedicated wing of the corporation will manage the restaurant.
The Chief Minister also launched an institute for empowerment of differently-abled children, built at a cost of `19 crore at Pokhariput to be run by the department of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. The institute can accommodate 100 differently-abled children below 18 years.