 "Karnataka Transport")
Karnataka transport has achieved an incredible feat as the state transport has started free bus services for women as Shakti Scheme, offering the service to over 100 crore users since its launch in June this year. 'Shakti' is one of the five schemes promised by the Congress government to the people of Karnataka before the assembly election.
According to a Hindustan Times report, a total of 1,004,756,184 rides were taken by women under the Shakti Scheme from June 11 to November 22 in Karnataka state. The stats are based on the number of free tickets distributed by the state-run road corporations in Karnataka.
Among all the road corporations in the Karnataka state, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is leading the race as it has given the service to over 32.69 crore free bus rides to women. The lowest 14.28 crore free services are offered by Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC). Karnataka State Road Transport (KSRTC) and Northwestern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) have offered around 30.12 crore and 23.37 crore free rides, respectively.
The Karnataka Transport Department stated that the free tickets are valued at a total of Rs 2,397 crore.
In the first month, more than 16 crore women got the benefit of the Shakti Scheme across all four road corporations.
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The government has started the Shakti scheme in Karnataka to only ordinary state-run services. Other transport services like Airavat, Airavat Club Class, Airavat Gold Class, Ambari, Ambari Dream Class, Ambari Utsav, Fly Bus, Vayu Vajra, Vajra, Non-AC Sleeper, Rajahamsa and EV Power Plus AC are out of this scheme. The buses that travel outside the state are also excluded from this scheme.
Authorities issuing smart cards for women
The authorities are analysing the feasibility of issuing smart cards to all the beneficiaries of the Shakti Scheme to get more precise data on distance travelled and expenditure incurred. As of now, the conductor issues zero-cost tickets to the women passengers after verifying their ID cards.
After the launch of the Shakti Scheme, the RTCs faced criticism from various quarters for not operating a sufficient number of buses. There are several cases in rural India where students are protesting against the authorities
