Sushree Mohanty
The Orissa High court stayed the construction of the much-hyped Cuttack Netaji Bus Terminal (CNBT) at Khannagar, Cuttack.
Hearing a petition, the High Court ruled that few portions of the land allotted for the proposed project belongs to a temple of Goddess Kali and any kind of demolition and construction work cannot be carried out on the site.
The Court also directed the district administration to maintain the status quo of movable and immovable properties of the temple.
It may be noted that the state government had decided to construct a state-of-the-art bus terminus project named after Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at his birthplace in Cuttack. The project was proposed to be constructed at Khannagar considering the congestion and pollution caused by the present terminus at Badambadi.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone at the cost of Rs 65 crore at Khannagar on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of the great freedom fighter on Jan. 23, 2021.
The bus terminal will be built per International standards and will have all modern facilities for the convenience of the passengers.
“A three-storey terminal building, regular bus bays to accommodate 180 buses at a time, space for local and ‘Mo Bus’ (my bus) service, bus repair workshop and special parking lot for four-wheelers and three-wheelers, will be some of the features of the CNBT”, stated the Hon’ble Chief Minister.
The plan includes an integrated information management system for the benefit of passengers and with the Orissa High Court staying the construction, the fate of Netaji Bus Terminus hangs in balance.
