BHUBANESWAR: Lack of civic amenities is plaguing the Master Canteen terminus despite being a key bus halt.More than 50 private buses and also the government operated city buses originate from this terminus daily. At any point of time, at least 10 standard city buses and 10 mini buses can be seen parked at the Master Canteen bus stop, managed by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority. Even as an estimated 5,000 commuters use the terminus daily, the amenities are inadequate.It does not have proper drinking water facility though a tap project was undertaken a few years back. It has a modest passenger shed while seating arrangements are far from satisfactory. It has only 16 small concrete benches promising relief to around 40-odd passengers.While there are adequate number of streetlights inside the terminus, many of which have gone defunct due to lack of maintenance. Worse, there are no public toilets either for male and female passengers. Shops near the terminus dump their waste, including kitchen, paper and plastic wastes, just behind the water tap in the bus terminus.“Availability of drinking water is a big problem, particularly during summer as the lone water tap has been lying defunct for a long time. Most of us walk up to roadside eateries and request for a glass of water,” said Mayadhar Mallick, a passenger.In August last year, the State Government had decided to replicate the Baramunda model to develop 27 bus stands across the State including the Master Canteen one. In the first phase, work on Baramunda and Master Canteen bus stands was to begin. However, it was later decided not to go ahead with the tender for the Master Canteen bus terminal as the government decided to prepare a new module for it.Sources said the tender process for the Master Canteen terminus has been stalled because of space constraint and change in module. The proposed bus stand here was to come up with an investment of ` 53.06 crore and Odisha Project Development Corporation Limited (OPDCL) was to prepare a new module for it. However, the bus stand still lies neglected.Bhubaneswar Development Authority Vice-Chairman Deoranjan Kumar Singh said a fresh bid for renovation of the bus terminus would be floated soon. “We will install passenger amenities in the bus stand and fewer commercial establishments will be allowed to use the area. Though there are plans to call for a new bid, it will take sometime,” he said.
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