CUTTACK: A PIL filed in the Orissa High Court has sought judicial intervention to halt the proposed bus terminal at Khannagar here on the grounds of alleged violation of the Cuttack Development Authority (CDA)’s comprehensive development plan (CDP).
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone of the Netaji Bus Terminal at Khannagar on the 125th birth anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose on January 23. The proposed bus terminal to be developed on an area of 12 acre of land belonging to Cuttack Municipal Corporation will have a built up area of 1.18 lakh sqft at a cost of Rs 65 crore.
City-based social activist Brundaban Das Azad (57) has filed the petition expressing surprise as to how, on which basis and under what circumstances, the decision was taken to construct the bus terminal at Khannagar, which was not among the four locations selected under the CDP.
According to the petition, the proposed land use for CDA area in the CDP-2030 had identified the Khannagar area as residential zone. "As per the CDP, bus terminal and bus depots are permissible in industrial-use zone. Hence, construction of bus terminal in Khannagar is not permissible," the petition contended.
The CDP had proposed relocation of the existing Regional Bus Terminal facilities from Badambadi to decongest the area. Besides, the existing transit terminal - bus facility is inadequate to cater to the present and anticipated demands. In the CDP, four places - Bidanasi, Sikharpur, Choudwar and Nirgundi - were selected for creation of the bus terminal facilities, the petition stated.
Further, as per the CDP, the noise level in Khannagar area is 76 decibel in day time and 71.5 in night time against permissible limit of 75 decibel in day time and 70 decibel in night time. If bus terminal comes up, the decibel level will go up, the petitioner also pointed out.