Bhubaneswar: Senior officers of the Commerce & Transport Department today deliberated on an ambitious plan for holistic development of various sectors like roads, railways, inland waterways and civil aviation in the state.
Chief Minister, Odisha has envisioned a “New Odisha – Empowered Odisha”. For this the Commerce &Transport Department has been given a mandate to:
- Provide stage carriage connectivity to all gram panchayats
- Rail connectivity to all districts.
- Create citizen friendly band IT enabled services from Transport Deparment for ease of living and transparency.
- Create Port led development of the coastal corridor of Odisha and make it one of the strongest maritime state in country.
- Use of comprehensive strategy and enforcement as well as multi Department. and sector approach to reduce road accidents and fatalities
Department’s Principal Secretary, Usha Padhee presented an ambitious plan for holistic development of various sectors i.e., roads, railways, inland waterways and civil aviation in the state.
The objective of the Department under the theme of ‘Connecting Odisha’ is to provide sustainable, economic, multimodal and safe transportation options for passengers and commodities across the state to create a “New Odisha – Empowered Odisha”.
The budget of C&T Department for FY 2021-22 was about ₹870 Cr. which has increased by 61% and reached ₹1,432 Cr. for FY 2022-23.
The increased allocations are for development and augmentation of resilient infrastructure targeting smooth, safe & seamless transportation of public and goods. Collector-Sundargarh, Gavali P Harshad, Collector-Bhadrak, Siddeswar Baliram Bondar & Collector Nuapada, Hema Kanta Say presented the thematic perspective of their respective districts. Sector-wise initiatives of the C&T Department are detailed hereunder.
| Sl. No | Sector | Category | Initiative | Outcome | Remarks |
| 1 | Road transport | Citizen services | On-line delivery of services | · All 32 state declared services under ORTPSA are being delivered online.
· Automated driving testing system (ADTS) across 19 locations in Phase-1 for skill test of driving license applicants |
The services are aligned with the wish list of |
| Passenger services | Model Bus stands | · 55 block level bus stands under Phase-1 to be completed by Aug’23.
· 50 more to be taken up under Phase-2 and completed by Mar’24. |
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| Passenger transportation | Multi modal transport | · For passengers’ seamless movement, rural transport scheme Biju Gaon Gadi Yojana shall be strengthened with inland water transport as integral part of it.
· OSRTC shall be encouraged to operate in commercially unviable routes · Urban transport shall be extended to Tier-2 towns of Odisha |
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| Passenger safety | Vehicle Fitness Test | Automated testing stations at 5 more locations in addition to one at Arilo Cuttack to come up this year. | |||
| Real-time vehicle locating | GPS/GPRS based vehicle location tracking for all commercial vehicles to be implemented by Oct’23. | This is as per the Govt. of India directives as per AIS-140 standard compliance | |||
| Road Safety | Zero Tolerance Day | Every Tuesday shall be observed as ZERO Tolerance Day across the state | |||
| Truck Terminals | Each district shall have truck terminals to avoid parking of heavy motor vehicles on roads | ||||
| Cargo movement | Logistics parks | Multi modal logistics parks are being developed at Paradip, Angul, Rourkela & Muniguda (Ganjam)
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| 2. | Water Transport | Passenger transportation | Sahid Baji Rout Naujatra Suraksha Yojana | Distribution of Lifebuoys & life jackets @95% discount to registered boat / launch owners | |
| RO PAX Jetty | At Dhamra and Talchua for transportation of 100 passengers & 8 trucks at once | M.V. Bhupen Hazarika vessel to carry out the job. IWAI & Govt. of Odisha have inked MoU on 15th Mar’21 | |||
| Cargo movement | Ports | · 2 non-major ports at Astaranga and Subarnarekha shall be functional shortly
· 1 riverine port on Mahanadi shall be operational very soon. |
· Cargo handling capacity
· Subarnarekh a port: 25 – 55 MMTPA · Astaranga port: 17 – 71 MMTPA · Riverine port: 45 MMTPA |
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| 3. | Railways | Passenger transportation | Passenger trains | Prioritization of rail connectivity to all 30 districts with major contribution by Govt. of Odisha in shape of construction cost & making land available for free | |
| Freight transportation | Freight trains | Dedicated freight corridors for cheaper mode of surface transportation within the state & beyond | |||
| 4. | Civil Aviation | Passenger services | Airports | 3 RCS airports shall shortly be licensed at Utkela (Kalahandi), Rasgovindpur (Mayurbhanj) & Rangeilunda (Ganjam) | Currently 4 functional airports: 1 at Bhubaneswar (international) and 3 domestic Jharsuguda, Rourkela (RCS) & Jeypore (RCS) |
| Cargo movement | Air cargo | 1 cargo terminal at Bhubaneswar International Airport; more are being planned | |||
| Sectoral skill development | Aerospace training | Biju Patnaik Aerospace Academy at Birasal (Dhenkanal) is envisioned to produce 500 pilots every year | Phase-I development is complete and Phase-II works are underway |
To attain these targets, the Government of Odisha through the C&T Department, have undertaken several initiatives for transport infrastructure augmentation, safe & seamless transportation of passengers and commodities, IT enabled services for uniform user experience. All such initiatives have been consolidated under 5T framework.
- Biju Gaon Gadi Yojana (BGGY): Rural stage carriage connectivity to aid the rural people in availing education, healthcare & livelihood opportunities
- Railways: Cost sharing with Ministry of Railways for construction of rail lines and provision of land for free on select projects
- RCS-UDAN: Prioritizing airstrips for replenishing and licensing under the scheme. VAT on ATF is charged @1% across the state to make the air transport affordable for public
- IWT: RO-PAX Jetties and new ports to come up for cheaper transportation of passengers & goods
- Automated Driving Test System (ADTS): To license only the eligible applicants to drive vehicles and reduce road accidents / fatalities by bringing down manual checking and human interference, ADTS is being implemented across 19 locations in Odisha.
- Automated Testing System (ATS): Parameterised automated vehicle fitness inspection & certification at 1 location; more centres in the offing.
- Institute of Driving Training and Research (IDTR): 1 functional at Chhatia-Jajpur and 3 more at Berhampur, Keonjhar and Bonai shall be commissioned shortly.
- Capacity Building & Road Safety Training for Road Engineers: Engineers from Works Dept. & NHAI are being trained under the aegis of Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT), Pune.
- Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS): Backend integrated with e-Challan system; this generates challans against MV rule violators. Currently implemented in Sundargarh, Berhampur and Bhubaneswar.
