Hyderabad: Telangana Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief R S Praveen Kumar on Sunday, December 10 raised questions on the viability of the newly elected state government’s policy to provide free travel for women and transgender persons in the state-run public transport buses.
“The implementation of the guarantee of free travel for women is going to put a heavy burden on the RTC, which is just coming out of losses. It is also going to affect the lives of around 5000 RTC workers, Apart from that, RTC services have been seized in many villages since the formation of Telangana due to various reasons. Now it remains questionable whether the services will be restored!…” he said in a post on X.
He further asked the state government to support lakhs of auto drivers, who he said, fear that they will not get enough passengers due to this move.
“…Similarly, lakhs of auto drivers fear that they will not get enough passengers and end up on the roads! The government should support the auto driver brothers who migrate to Patna for not finding suitable work in the villages and live in foil sheds and earn their living by driving hired autos,” he said.
Revanth launches free travel for women, Aarogyasri
Newly-elected chief minister Revanth Reddy flagged off the free RTC bus travel for women under the “6 Guarantees – Maha Lakshmi Scheme” and the Rajiv Aarogyasri health insurance scheme in Hyderabad on Saturday, December 9.
A GO (government order) was issued by the state government on Friday, stating that all women, girls, and transgenders, who are residents of Telangana, can travel freely across the state in the state-run Palle Velugu and Express Buses, run by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC).
The scheme will be launched in 7292 buses. A zero ticket will be issued for the women passengers. Identity cards should be shown to the conductors during the journey for local polarization.
