Orissa to launch ''fly by road'' Volvo bus service

Bhubaneswar, Mar 08 (UNI) The state owned Orissa State Road Transport Corporation(OSRTC) will flag off the luxurious Swedish made Volvo bus service between Puri and Kolkata from here tomorrow by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Describing the bus service as ''fly by Road'',the OSRTC had entered into a tie up with Mahindra and Mahindra (M and M) which would look into the maintenance part and provide the trained drivers.

OSRTC Chairman cum Managing Director Binaya Kumar Behera said the service would run on a 60:40 partnership between M and M and the Corporation.

He said M and M had procured two Volvo buses, each costing Rs 63 lakhs for the purpose. Each ticket costing Rs 525 would be available at the OSRTC counters in Puri and Bhubaneswar. The Corporation, Mr Behera said, had also made arrangement to deliver the ticket at the doorstep with additional charge of Rs 50 in Puri and Bhubaneswar.

The OSRTC CMD said the journey between Puri and Kolkata would take maximum eight hours with a stoppage at Jaraka for few minutes for refreshment. He said the service would mostly cater to the middle class people and the Corporation had taken all care to provide maximum comfort to the passengers during the journey.

The Corporation, he said would decide running of such buses on other routes like Bhubaneswar-Ranchi, Bhubaneswar- Raipur and Bhubaneswar-Vizag besides within the state if there was demand and the project turned viable.

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