The Congress government in Karnataka is engaged in fulfilling the election promises made before the assembly elections. In this series, the Siddaramaiah government on Sunday launched the 'Shakti' scheme for women of the state to travel free of cost by government buses. Since the implementation of the scheme, the crowd in government buses has increased a lot. Due to this, there have also been reports of disorder in many places. Meanwhile, the state transport department has decided to set guidelines for the passengers.

Shakti Yojana was launched on 11 June 2023. According to the government, the main objective behind starting the scheme is to empower women financially by providing free bus service to them. Under the Shakti scheme, all women beneficiaries of the state will be provided free bus ride across Karnataka. Under the Shakti scheme, free bus service will be provided only in Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses. This is expected to benefit more than 42 lakh women.

The annual cost of Shakti Yojana is estimated to be Rs 3,600 crore. Under the Shakti Yojana, on an average 54 lakh women travel daily in four buses of the State Road Transport Corporation. Their free tickets cost around Rs 11-12 crore per day. It will cost around Rs 300 crore per month and around Rs 3,600 crore in a year. This money is to be given by the government to the corporations in the form of subsidy or grant. Before the Shakti scheme, the income per day was Rs 23 crore.

Shakti Yojana has allowed women to travel free of cost in the buses of four corporations. It was said that after the launch of the scheme, there has been an increase of 32 percent in the total number of passengers. Earlier, an average of 82 lakh passengers used to travel daily in these buses. After the implementation of Shakti Yojana, about one crore 10 lakh passengers are riding in buses every day. About 28 lakh women are likely to travel more than once.

Shakti Yojana has facilitated the working women. Shakti Yojana is very helpful for housewives, salesgirls and girl students. Earlier BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation) was charging Rs 1,200 and KSRTC Rs 1,500 per month for monthly passes for women and now they can travel for free.

Since the introduction of free travel, the buses are being overcrowded with women. Due to this students do not get space in the bus and they are not able to reach school and college on time. The students have demanded that 25 percent seats be reserved for them.

Autos and cabs have been worst affected due to the introduction of Shakti Yojana. Auto drivers say that they used to earn Rs 800-1000 a day, but now they find it difficult to earn even Rs 200 a day.

The number of train passengers has also declined after the introduction of free travel for women in transport buses. The special thing is that the number of passengers in the general coaches of trains running within the state has decreased by 10% to 15%. However, there was no impact on the number of passengers in AC coaches.

After the launch of the scheme, both KSRTC staff and commuters are facing trouble as a large number of women are traveling at the same time. Meanwhile, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy has decided to hold a meeting with the officials to decide the guidelines.

To this Reddy said, 'Let people travel, everyone is going together, that's why there is crowding. Shakti Yojana will run for five years, no one should worry about it. But this is becoming a problem as everyone travels on the same day. Drivers and operators face problems. So I have spoken to the authorities about making online booking mandatory. He said that the guidelines will be ready in the next two days.