BERHAMPUR: Ganjam Urban Transport Service Limited (GUTSL), which runs city bus services in Berhampur and its adjoining areas, has been suffering heavy losses since its inception.The city bus service, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) headed by the district Collector, operates in Berhampur, Chhatrapur, Gopalpur and Hinjili and was started on February 26, 2014. The service is in great demand as it covers important areas of the district. However, lack of maintenance has taken a toll on the buses. Be it OSRTC or private operators, none seems to be able to ensure profits for GUTSL.
The State Government had purchased 32 buses for GUTSL at a cost of `6 crore in 2013 with each vehicle costing `18.68 lakh. The city bus project for Berhampur was planned to be started on Public Private Participation (PPP) mode. But, no private operator turned up to participate in the project even as tender for the same was floated twice.
The Government then handed over the bus service for greater Berhampur to Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) for one year.After one year, GUTSL requested OSRTC to continue running the service for another six months which ended on August 24, 2015. The OSRTC managed to earn `3.88 crore against the expenditure of `4.02 crore during the period it managed the service.As per the agreement, GUTSL compensated for losses incurred by OSRTC.
The service was then handed over to a private operator Anil Bus Service on October 1, 2015 which signed a five-year agreement with GUTSL for operating 32 buses. While the tenure of the agreement of 26 buses ends in September 2020, the tenure for the other six will be over in 2023.GUTSL is earning `9 lakh per year from these buses and whether it will be able to get `6 crore, as per the agreement with the private bus operator after the end of the service tenure, is unclear.
Owner of Anil Bus Service Anil Kumar said the warranty of the buses had lapsed when GUTSL handed over 26 buses to the firm. “We are now bearing the cost of maintenance of vehicles,” he said.
Meanwhile, secretary, Berhampur Development Authority (BeDA) Sambit Rout said the city bus service was introduced to ensure convenience of common people.
Poor service
Lack of maintenance has taken a toll on the city buses
OSRTC managed to earn `3.88 crore against the expenditure of `4.02 crore during the period it managed the service
Govt had purchased 32 buses for GUTSL at a cost of `6 crore in 2013
