Tanvi Sinha
The Orissa High Court dismissed the two PIL’s that had been filed against the construction of a Bus Terminal at Khannagar.
The two-judge bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray dismissed the petition after clarification from the State.
The petitioners Satyanaryan Mohanty and Brundaban Das Ajad had filed the petition for cancellation of the proposal to construction as residents of the Cuttack city off the fear that the terminal was being built on a Residential Use Zone.
The petition stated, “As per the CDP, bus terminal and bus depots are permissible in the industrial-use zone. Hence, construction of bus terminal in Khannagar is not permissible,”.
The terminal’s foundation was laid on January 23rd by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the situation came to an end when the state brought in an affidavit with the claim that the site was not a Residential Use Zone.
Additionally, the affidavit spoke of the majority of the area to be earmarked for the public and semi-public zone with a small portion to be made into a recreational use zone as well.
Cuttack Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani stated in it that no prohibitions in the Comprehensive Development Plan of Cuttack Development Authority prohibited the construction.
The decision for the construction was simply taken reflecting on past experiences in other cities like Puri and Berhampur where the buses on the outskirts failed to get commuters and effectively check unauthorised parking of buses.
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