The vehicle, which was hijacked from the Badambadi bus terminus here on Friday by Satyabadi Parida and two of his associates, was intercepted and seized by police in Bhubaneswar. The conductor was nabbed but the others managed to escape, police said.

The incident occurred when the corporation initiated booking of tickets through its authorised private agents on Friday in a bid to curb corruption in the organisation. The move was opposed by about 50 conductors who gheraoed the district transport manager and forced cancellation of services of all government buses plying from the Cuttack zone for the day.

Three agitated staff members forcibly took out the bus from the stand, without passengers, demanding immediate withdrawal of the new system.OSRTC chairman-cum-managing director P C Mishra toldnewsmen that there was no question of going back on the privatisation of the ticket-booking system. It would work in a full-fledged manner from Monday, he asserted.

Alleging that the conductors had indulged in looting of ticket money by showing less than 52 per cent payload, Mishra said it had been decided that henceforth no corporation bus would be permitted to ply with less than 90 per cent payload.

According to official sources, the corporation's cumulative loss had reached the Rs 150 crore mark and the staff had not been paid salaries for several months.