Bhubaneswar: All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association has opposed the state government’s Location Accessible Multimodal Initiative (LAccMI) scheme.
Earlier, an official source from Odisha government had informed that LAccMI scheme is scheduled to be launched on Independence Day (August 15, 2023) with an objective to provide bus communication from each gram panchayat to block headquarters in the state.
However, the All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association has demanded inclusion of all private buses in the scheme instead of plying buses from elsewhere.
The association has warned that if their demands are not met by August 15, they will stage a protest by terminating the bus services across the state August 16.
“As per the proposed LAccMI scheme by Odisha government, buses will run in villages. If they operate buses from panchayats to blocks, we have no objection. However, if the buses operate between panchayats and blocks along with Bhubaneswar to district headquarters, then how will we run our buses,” Secretary of All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association Debendra Kumar Sahu questioned.
Notably, the official source had informed that the first phase of the scheme will be rolled out in Koraput, Gajapati and Kalahandi districts.
PNN