Bengaluru: The newly elected Congress government in Karnataka is all geared up to launch the Shakthi Scheme on Sunday, in which all women can avail the luxury free bus travel in all state-owned Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and other corporations.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will turn 'conductor' to inaugurate the scheme and he will issue free tickets to women travelling from Majestic BMTC bus stop to Vidhana Soudha, in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy.
The scheme will be flagged off by the district in-charge ministers at all the district headquarters across Karnataka. The state government has extended the scheme for those women who travel 20 kilometres distance from the border to other neighbouring states
It is decided by the government to provide smart cards for women and until then they can travel by showing their documents such as Aadhaar, driving license, and voter ID which has a local address.
It is estimated that about 40 lakh women travel in state-owned buses every day and the number is likely to go up after the launch of the scheme.
The police will be deputed in all BMTC buses after the inauguration of the scheme in Bengaluru to avoid any confusion and untoward incidents until the scheme takes off smoothly. All eight DCPs in Bengaluru have been directed to ensure peace as it is expected that miscreants would create confusion to get political mileage.
The jurisdictional police and 2,000 home guards are roped in for the purpose. The Hoysala vehicles will also patrol on roads.
According to Siddaramaiah, the government will require Rs 59,000 crore annually to implement the five guarantees promised during the election and the financial requirement is Rs 41,000 crore for the remaining months of the current year.
The Congress government is launching five guarantees in a phased manner and made announcements in this regard. Free bus travel is the first scheme to get inaugurated.
The state has promised 10 kilograms of free rice to every member of the BPL family under the Anna Bhagya scheme, Rs 2,000 allowance for women heads under the Ghriha Lakshmi scheme, Rs 3,000 allowance for two years for unemployed graduates, and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders of this academic year and 200 units of free power for all households under Griha Jyothi scheme.
With inputs from IANS