Karnataka Shakti Scheme Nears 500 Crore Free Bus Rides
The Shakti Scheme is one among 5-guarantee schemes of the State Government implemented in the State after Congress party returned to power in 2023
Bengaluru:The ruling Congress party’s ‘Shakthi Scheme’ to allow women to travel free in State owned buses across the State is all set to touch 500 crore rides by Tuesday since its launch on June 11, 2023.
A woman, under the scheme, will have to produce an original Aadhar card for her to travel for free and the women traveler will be issued a ticket for free of cost. The travel fares of the women travellers will be reimbursed to the Transport Corporations by the State Government.
To commemorate the occasion on Shakthi scheme touching 500 crore rides and reaching a milestone, a function is organized near the residence of Chief Minister Kumara Krupa Park East in Bengaluru on Monday at 10 am. At the function, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Minister of Transport Ramalinga Reddy will symbolically issue the 500th crore ‘Shakti Scheme’ tickets to women passengers.
As per the figures provided by the Transport Corporation officials, as many as 497, 00, 50, 580 women travellers had travelled in State owned buses of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC) since the launch of the scheme on June 11, 2023 till July 10th this year. The ticket value of women passengers travelled amounts to Rs 12593, 86, 02, 622.
The figures of Transport Corporation stated, 150, 97, 52, 716 women travelled in KSRTC buses, as many as 157, 83, 93, 096 in BMTC buses, 116, 34, 97, 274 in NWKRTC and 71, 84, 07, 494 in buses belonging to KKRTC.
The Shakti Scheme is one among 5-guarantee schemes of the State Government implemented in the State after Congress party returned to power in 2023. The Congress party had promised the voters of Karnataka to implement 5-guarantees if the party was voted to power.
The four other schemes include-free power supply to every family upto 200 units a month, Rs 2,000 cash benefit scheme for a female head of a family, 5 kg of additional rice to BPL/Antyodaya card holders to the existing 5 kg of rice distributed every month and unemployment allowances for unemployed graduates and diploma holders.
After the Shakthi Scheme completed a year in 2024, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had termed the scheme “a transformative initiative.” Adding, he said, “This programme has empowered women by increasing employment, offering monthly savings and contributed to a rise in GST collection from women’s spending.
“Together, we are driving economic prosperity and strengthening out State,” said the Chief Minister.
