BHUBANESWAR: Acting on the directive of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, the Commerce and Transport department in coordination with the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department and police on Sunday rolled out an action plan to strengthen safety protocols and monitor Ama Bus operations in realtime.
Speaking to mediapersons after chairing a high-level meeting on Sunday, principal secretary, Commerce and Transport and H&UD, Usha Padhee informed that a five-member committee has been constituted to ensure stricter monitoring, improved operational discipline and enhanced safety of Ama Bus services.
Headed by Padhee, the committee also has the transport commissioner, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), traffic DCP and a senior CRUT officer as members. It will meet once every 15 days as and when required to review operational performance, safety standards and passenger services.
“A standard operating procedure (SOP) will be issued soon focusing on preventive enforcement, technology-enabled surveillance and human resource reform to address the recent spate of accidents involving Ama Buses,” Padhee said.
She informed that the driver recruitment process will be further tightened, with new drivers undergoing rigorous training and a mandatory five-day evaluation to assess their driving skills, road safety awareness, lane discipline and behavioural standards before induction. “A screening committee headed by the transport commissioner will be formed for selection of drivers which will be subject to evaluation by a third party. The selected drivers will undergo vigorous training at the four institutes of driving training and research (IDTRs) located in Chhatia (Jajpur), Berhampur (Ganjam), Keonjhar and Bonai (Sundargarh) before their induction,” Padhee said.
There will also be a third party inspection of fitness of the buses run by CRUT. “The urban transport system will be closely monitored from the integrated command and control centre in the city. The integrated safety framework will be operationalised in a phased manner beginning this month,” Padhee added.
To improve on-ground compliance, the Transport department in collaboration with Odisha Police, will conduct joint enforcement drives, regular vehicle inspections, and take strict action against over-speeding, reckless driving and route violations. Dedicated traffic monitoring teams will be deployed on high-risk corridors.
This apart, to encourage positive conduct, Padhee said drivers and conductors displaying exemplary behaviour will receive monthly incentives. Officials said between February and December 2025, seven persons lost their lives and 97 were injured in Ama Bus-related accidents.
The meeting was attended by transport commissioner Amitabh Thakur, CRUT managing director Sanjay Biswal, DCP Jagmohan Meena and other senior officials.