Telangana Transport Minister, Ponnam Prabhakar lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of lowering the image of the Prime Minister’s position by questioning the free bus travel for women in Telangana and relating it to alleged low traffic on the Metro Trains.
He asked if this is what one expects from the Prime Minister of India, and said no one expected that a PM would oppose free travel to women in Telangana. If that is the stand of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), they should explain why they are unable to digest if women travel free of cost in buses.
Mr. Prabhakar said the free bus scheme has helped women’s empowerment as they are now able to save money and spend it for the family leading to more purchasing power. The free bus travel was given to empower women economically and it was reflecting in Telangana.
The Transport Minister wondered whether the Metro Rail was really affected by women preferring buses. There is heavy rush in the Metro Rains and there is a demand to increase the bogies to meet the demand. But instead of that, a new narrative is being created as if Metro Rail is losing money due to the free travel in buses.
Mr. Prabhakar said the Congress government in Telangana was committed to the free travel scheme and it was planning to increase the number of buses to accommodate more women and make the travel experience better. New routes where there is a demand for more buses are being identified.
