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Karnataka: Free bus rides for women as Cong rolls out poll guarantee
The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka on Sunday rolls out Shakti scheme, providing free bus rides to women in the state
The Congress-led government in Karnataka on Sunday rolled out the ‘Shakti’ scheme – offering free travel to women and transgender people in state buses – fulfilling the first of its five poll guarantees.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar and transport minister Ramalinga Reddy on Sunday launched the scheme outside the Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru, and also issued token smart cards to five beneficiaries, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders invited to the event, stayed away.
In the run up to the elections, the Congress had promised 200 units of free power to all households under the Gruha Jyothi scheme, ₹2,000/- month to each woman head of the family under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, free travel for women in government-run buses under the Gruha Shakti scheme, ₹3,000/month to unemployed graduates and ₹1,500/month to unemployed diploma graduates for two years under the Yuva Nidhi scheme and 10kg food grains to each member of a below poverty line (BPL) family under the Anna Bhagya scheme.
On June 2, Siddaramaiah said that all the five guarantees would be implemented in the present financial year.
After the launch, the chief minister took on the role of a bus conductor and issued zero-value tickets to women passengers. Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and other dignitaries travelled in a Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus along with women passengers from Vidhan Soudha to the bus terminal at Majestic.
The CM said that the free bus travel scheme has been rolled out for social equality and will benefit the minorities, women and deprived classes. “Women, who make up half of the society, have been exploited for centuries. Minorities, women are deprived of opportunities. Women’s participation in the workforce is low in India compared to other countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia and the United States,” the chief minister, adding that he hoped the move will boost women’s participation in the workforce.
“The BJP which only cares for the rich, cannot bear our concern [towards the poor]. Our aim is to alleviate the suffering of the people. The first guarantee came into effect within 20 days of taking oath and all the women have started taking advantage of it. The scheme has been launched across the state,” the CM added.
Several BJP leaders who were invited for the inauguration of the scheme in Bengaluru, including Union minister of state for skill development and electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrashekar, BJP MPs PC Mohan and Tejasvi Surya among others skipped the ceremony on Sunday. Earlier, the state BJP had threatened to launch statewide agitations if the Congress government in Karnataka fails to fulfil its five guarantees to the people.
“They will continue the five guarantees only till the Lok Sabha Elections. Congress will cheat people later. If the guarantees continue, the development work will have to be stopped. The development of Karnataka will be stunted due to this,” former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi said while speaking at a meeting with the party workers in Belagavi’s Athani on Sunday.
The scheme was launched at 1pm at all district headquarters of the state, said an official communique. Women can apply for the Shakti Smart Card by registering on the ‘Seva Sindhu’ government portal, to avail the benefit of the scheme. As per officials, the free travel service will benefit over 4.18 million women passengers daily and would cost the exchequer an estimated ₹4,051.56 crore annually.
According to officials, all women, including girl students, without any discrimination on the basis of caste, religion caste, can avail the facility. Gender minorities are also included in the scheme, they said.
The free travel service can be availed in city transport, ordinary and express buses which accounts for 18,609 buses in all four state-owned Road Transport Corporations (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation, North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and Kalyan Karnataka Road Transport Corporation). Until smart cards are issued, free bus travel can be availed by producing a valid photo identity card issued by Government of India, Government of Karnataka or government-owned offices, and getting a zero-value ticket.
Calling the scheme, the “epitome of female empowerment”, Shivakumar said, “Women are like the eyes of a family... women are given first priority in our culture. We have implemented this Shakti scheme as the epitome of female empowerment.”
Talking to mediapersons, minister Reddy said the aim of the scheme is to prioritise easy and safe travel for women commuters, adding that smart cards for free bus travel will be available in three months. “You can apply for the smart passes within three months. Smart passes do not breach any privacy... people in rural areas can reach out to help centres for those who do not have access to online mediums.”
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala took to Twitter and asserted that Congress fulfilled its commitment to offer free bus travel. “Shakti – the Congress Guarantee rolls in Karnataka today – Guaranteeing free travel in buses to Women across the State. Congress is truth! Congress is commitment! Congress stands with people,” Surjewala tweeted.
Karnataka Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa expressed his happiness on the launch of the Scheme and said that all the schemes promised by Congress in the state would be implemented by August 15. “We are very happy that we are launching Shakti scheme for women of all ages. We have already started executing (the schemes) one by one. By August 15, all the schemes will be implemented. We will start delivering as we promised,” he said.
Bangarappa also said that the Congress manifesto promised the provision of buses for the state’s children and that more buses will be introduced. “I have got 1.2 crore children up to 12th standard. I want them to avail this service. In our manifesto, we had promised this. We will be adding more buses. Our target is 15,000 buses. We want them to avail all facilities,” the education minister said.
The Shakti scheme applies only on the ordinary state-run bus services of Karnataka. Airavat, Airavat Club Class, Airavat Gold Class, Ambari, Ambari Dream Class, Ambari Utsav, Fly Bus, Vayu Vajra, Vajra, Non-AC Sleeper, Rajahamsa and EV Power Plus AC buses are excluded from the scheme. The government has also reserved 50% of the seats for men in the services which women are eligible to avail in all RTCs, except BMTC services.