Cuttack: The Orissa High Court Tuesday stayed the construction of Cuttack Netaji Bus Terminal (CNBT) proposed to come up at Khannagar locality here.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for this bus terminal on occasion of the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, January 23, this year.
Hearing a petition, the HC ruled that no demolition and construction work can be carried out on the proposed site as it has a Kali temple. The High Court also directed the district administration to maintain the status quo of movable and immovable properties of the temple.
The Odisha government had earlier decided to set up a state-of-the-art bus terminal in Khannagar at a cost of Rs 65 crore as the existing Badambadi bus stand faces congestions owing to space crunch.
The bus terminal will have all kinds of modern facilities for the convenience of the passengers. It will have a large terminal building, 180 bus bays, parking space for 247 vehicles, service area, a vehicle repair and maintenance block and parking space for three-wheelers.
The terminal building will be a three-storey one. It will have a passenger lounge, a food court, a cloakroom, a ticket office, an e-vehicle charging point, rainwater storage on the roof and solar panels.
With the Odisha High Court staying construction, the fate of the ambitious bus terminal now hangs in balance.
PNN