Jeypore: Miscreants on Friday set ablaze abandoned buses parked at Jeypore city bus terminal in the Koraput district.
Of the fleet of 20 buses, two were completely destroyed in the fire. The reason of the fire remains unclear. Police and fire brigade teams reached the spot and doused the flame.
Police started an investigation into the incident.
The buses were lying unused at the city bus terminal near Jeypore new Bus Stand.
According to reports, 20 buses were allotted in the first phase to Koraput district in 2016. The government had planned to run the said buses between Kotpad, Jeypore, Koraput, Sunabeda, Damanjodi.
A private agency was entrusted with the responsibility of bus services. The government had planned to provide 80 more buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in phases.
It was decided to run the buses in a government-private partnership. Accordingly, Koraput district administration had signed an agreement with a Jeypore-based contract organization for the service.
But after running for a few days, the bus services were stopped for some reason. Since then, the buses have been parked at the terminal.
People had been demanding the resumption of the services but to no avail. After lying idle for several years, the vehicles gathered rust in the absence of proper maintenance.
