Bengaluru: Buoyed by the success of ‘Shakti’ scheme to allow free travel for women in State run buses which came into effect from June this year, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday directed officials concerned to initiate steps to procure as many as 5675 new buses to be pressed into service to cater to the growing demand of passengers.
The ‘Shakti’ scheme came into effect in Karnataka on June 11 this year and so far, as many as 62, 35, 653 women have travelled under the scheme in four Transportations of the State and the total ticket value of women passengers was about Rs 15, 54, 98, 010 as on October 20.
A couple of days back, Minister for Transport Ramalinga Reddy had stated that the State needed 12,000 new buses in its four Transport Corporations to provide last mile connectivity.
In a review meeting held in Bengaluru, the Chief Minister said that the number of passengers went up by about 15 percent after the ‘Shakti’ scheme came into force in the State and new buses are required to increase the number of schedules and also for better service to the passengers. He directed the officials concerned to complete the process of procurement of new buses as soon as possible.
The Chief Minister said that Rs 500 crore budgetary allocation has been made to the Transport department to procure new buses and also discussed with officials concerned on finance management since the State Government has to reimburse the travel fares of passengers travelling under ‘Shakti’ scheme to the transport department. Siddaramaiah said Rs 83 crore has been collected as penalty for ticketless passengers by the Vigilance officials conducting searches on the passengers.
Minister for Transport Ramalinga Reddy, secretary of Finance department P.C. Jaffer, Managing Directors of Transport Corporations among others, participated in the meeting.
