Bengaluru
More than 43 crore women have travelled free of cost and made a turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore under the Shakti Scheme, a free bus travel for women implemented under the Five Guarantee Schemes of the State Congress government, according to the State Road Transport Corporation. Since the launch of the scheme, 44,36,14,219 women have travelled free of cost in the four transport corporations and got tickets worth Rs 1,013.94 crore.
A total of 14,43,67,198 women travelled in BMTC and 184,26,15,492 tickets were transacted.
In July, 19 crore women travelled, amounting to around Rs 450 crore. In June, when the scheme was launched, 10 crore women travelled and 250 crore transactions were made.
The free bus travel scheme has resulted in an increase in the number of passengers in government buses, benefiting loss-making firms. But the government exchequer is being burdened at times. In the budget for 2023-24, around Rs 4,000 crore has been allocated for the scheme and the quantum of funds is likely to double due to the overwhelming response from the people.
