Bhubaneswar: Repainting of buses running under Location Accessible Multimodal Initiative (LAccMI) scheme is being taken up to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the vehicles, transport minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena stated in a written reply in the assembly on Thursday.
In his reply to BJD MLA Pramila Mallick’s question about the reason for changing the name of the LAccMI scheme and the colour of the buses, Jena clarified that the buses were covered in political stickers, and the current initiative involves proper colouring.
“During the recent general elections when the model code of conduct was in force, the stickers which belonged to a particular political party were removed from the buses. This has led to the bus looking ugly,” Jena said.
He said painting of the buses was taken up after the model code was lifted. The buses were being painted in the traditional colour of the Odisha State Road Transport Corporation, the transport minister stated. Regarding the cost of colouring the buses, Jena said since bus operators have a gross cost contract model, they are undertaking the beautification work at their own expense, without any additional financial burden on the govt.
In response to another question posed by BJD MLA Ranedra Pratap Swain about the number of LAccMI buses operating on various routes across the state, the transport minister informed that currently 1,340 buses are functional across five clusters in Odisha.

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