The story
The origins of public road transport in Odisha trace back to 1948, when the State Government took over bus services previously operated by erstwhile princely states and formed the State Transport Services (STS), starting with a staff of 4,089 and a fleet of 523 buses. In 1950, the Road Transport Corporations Act (Act No. 64 of 1950) was enacted by the Central Government, mandating the creation of state road transport corporations. Subsequently, the OSRTC Rules were framed in 1967 as a step toward establishing a dedicated statutory transport corporation in Odisha.
OSRTC became functional on 15 May 1974, when the assets and employees of the STS were formally transferred to the new corporation. Initially, it operated with share capital contributions from the State and Central Governments in a 2:1 ratio. Further strengthening its reach, the ORT Company, which operated primarily in the southern districts of Odisha, was merged with OSRTC on 16 August 1990, bringing its assets, liabilities, and staff under OSRTC’s management. Around this time, the Central Government also ceased its share capital contribution (from 1990–91 onwards), leaving the state government as the primary sponsor.
From Wikipedia’s article on Odisha State Road Transport Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3