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Shakti scheme: Karnataka govt releases ₹125cr for transport corporations
Since its launch, over 29.32 crore women have availed the benefit and the four transport corporations have issued zero tickets worth ₹687 crore, according to officials.
The state government on Wednesday released the first instalment of ₹125.48 crore to the four transport corporations, based on the number of ‘zero tickets’ issued to the commuters under the ‘Shakti’ scheme, which provides free travel for women in select state-run buses across Karnataka.
The government has released ₹47.15 crore to Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), ₹21.85 crore to Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), ₹32.57 crore to North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) and ₹23.90 crore to Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC), according to officials.
After the launch of the Shakti scheme, the average daily ridership of the four bus corporations had soared. The ridership had crossed one crore, transport minister Ramalinga Reddy said on August 1.
“Since June 11, around 30 crore women have travelled for free in government buses under the Shakti scheme. Earlier, an average of 84 lakh passengers were travelling in government buses per day. This number has increased,” the transport minister said.
Since its launch, over 29.32 crore women have availed the benefit and the four transport corporations have issued zero tickets worth ₹687 crore, according to officials.
The state government had said that it would bear the cost of the Shakti scheme. In the recent budget, the state government allocated ₹ 2,800 crore for the flagship Shakti scheme in the current fiscal. However, the government has provided an outlay of ₹3,000 crore annually.
The four transport corporations had also written to the state government to reimburse the expenses incurred for the scheme till June, which amounts over ₹250 crore. All the four RTCs also sought advance payment of around ₹500 crore for July and August.
Last week, the transport minister had said that the government would reimburse the cost for the free travel to the RTCs in the first week of every month, stating from August based on the number of zero tickets.
“We have decided to reimburse for the zero tickets in the first week of every month starting from August. June reimbursement will be done in the first week of August. Timely payment to the road transport corporations will help them and ensure there is no financial burden due to the scheme,” Reddy said last week.
Highlighting the success of the flagship scheme, Reddy said on Tuesday that it has been successful despite all opposition. “The scheme has heralded the empowerment of women. Any small inconvenience was blown out of proportion and posted on social media. However, the scheme has succeeded beyond all political propaganda. This is all due to the effort of the staff,” he added.
