‘Shakti’ – the free travel scheme for women in State transport corporation buses – one of the flagship programmes of the Congress government — was rolled out with much fanfare at the suburban bus stand in Mysuru on Sunday, June 11.
Minister in-charge of Mysuru district H.C. Mahadevappa launched the first of the five pre-poll guarantees that offered free travel for women anywhere in the State in buses other than luxury services operated by the transport corporations.
The Minister, in a symbolic manner, issued ‘zero fare tickets’ to women for rolling out the free travel scheme at the bus terminus.
The women passengers were greeted with flowers and sweets to mark the occasion. The buses were specially decorated with flowers and balloons. The elated women passengers boarded the buses and collected tickets to start the journey to their respective destinations.
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Women can travel for free in city buses, and inter-city buses (Sarige buses), showing some ID proof and address proof like Aadhaar, voter ID etc.
Speaking after launching the programme, Mr. Mahadevappa said ‘Shakti’ is an important programme of the Congress government for empowering women. The scheme has been launched for the benefit of women. The remaining guarantees will be launched in the coming days, he added.
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Mr. Mahadevappa said ‘Shakti’ will benefit nearly 40 lakh passengers, and the free travel will cost exchequer ₹4,050 crore annually. Several other schemes for the benefit of women will also be launched soon, he added.
As promised ahead of the elections, the benefits are being reached out, starting with ‘Shakti’, the Minister stated.
Gruha Lakshmi, Gruha Jyothi, 10 kg of free rice under Anna Bhagya and Yuva Nidhi will also be launched as promised in the days ahead. The idea is to make every family in the State self-assured, and accordingly the schemes have been prepared, he explained.
Tanveer Sait, G.T. Deve Gowda, K. Harish Gowda, MLAs; A.H. Vishwanath, C.N. Manje Gowda, D. Thimmaiah, Maritibbe Gowda, MLCs; Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra, Mayor Shivakumar and others were present.
A note from KSRTC said 41.81 lakh women can avail free travel benefit and this includes 11.58 lakh bus pass holders. Barring luxury services, women can travel in 18,609 buses, including 6,308 buses run on intra-city routes, 5,958 regular buses and 6,434 express buses (Sarige) run on inter-city routes.
Pink tickets
The ticket issuing machines had been suitably modified for issuing zero fare tickets and conductors have been trained for operating the modified software in ticket machines. In case of a snag in the ticket issuing machine, ‘pink tickets’ will be issued manually to facilitate travel. Tickets are issued after verifying the ID proof, the note said.
‘Shakti Smart Cards’ will be issued to women travellers in the next three months. Women can apply for the cards in the Seva Sindhu portal from June 15 onwards.
Until the smart cards are issued, the ID proof with photo and address issued by the government or its agencies can be used for availing the benefit.
If necessary, the schedules operated can be modified in case of an increase in the travel of women on some particular routes. Steps have been taken for adding 1,894 buses to the existing fleet to cater to the demand, the KSRTC Mysuru division said.
