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Ahead of Raksha Bandhan, UP to launch free bus travel for women above 60
The scheme was among the promises made in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Sankalp Patra (manifesto) for the 2022 assembly elections, which committed free travel for women above 60 in public transport across Uttar Pradesh.
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The Uttar Pradesh government is set to launch a scheme offering free travel in state-run buses to women aged above 60 years, fulfilling a key BJP poll promise made during the 2022 assembly elections, officials dealing with the issue disclosed on Monday.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, according to them, is scheduled to launch the scheme at a function at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in Lucknow on August 26, ahead of Raksha Bandhan.
“The CM will launch the free travel scheme for women above 60 years of age here on Wednesday at a function planned as a big event,” a senior government official said.
The scheme was among the promises made in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Sankalp Patra (manifesto) for the 2022 assembly elections, which committed free travel for women above 60 in public transport across Uttar Pradesh.
The move is also seen as an effort to reach out to women voters ahead of the assembly elections due early next year.
The fulfilment of this populist promise made by the BJP in 2022 is expected to put an additional burden of around ₹330 crore on the state government, which will reimburse the UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) for the revenue lost from free ticketing to senior women.
According to a UPSRTC survey, around 20 lakh passengers travel in its buses daily, with women accounting for nearly 33% of the ridership. “Our survey found nearly one lakh women above 60 years of age travelling in state-run buses every day,” a senior UPSRTC official said.
The state government has already made a budgetary allocation for the scheme through the supplementary budget recently passed by the UP assembly, according to the officials.
The rollout could pose operational challenges for UPSRTC as it currently lacks a foolproof mechanism to verify passengers’ age. “For the time being, conductors and booking centres will use Aadhar as the age identifier while issuing tickets to women above 60 years of age,” the official said. “The government is also preparing detailed rules for implementing the scheme,” he added.
According to officials, UPSRTC had also suggested that the government consider extending free travel to women irrespective of age, which would eliminate the need for strict age-based identification.
Meanwhile, women passengers of all ages will continue to get free rides on Raksha Bandhan, as has been the practice for several years.
