4 min readBengaluruJun 7, 2023 04:28 PM IST
First published on: Jun 7, 2023 at 04:06 PM IST
Ahead of the June 11 rollout of its free-bus travel scheme for Karnataka women, the state government has been urged not to use separate smart cards for reimbursing public transport corporations by calculating the distance travelled by women.
In a memorandum submitted to Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Wednesday, the Bangalore Bus Prayaanikara Vedike has stated that separate smart cards would inconvenience the beneficiaries as well as the transport corporations.
“There is no reason why ticket sales itself cannot be used to calculate the distance. Separate tickets like in Delhi can be issued and this will address the need to a large extent, even if not fully. Thus smart cards as a solution are not even required in the first place,” the memorandum read.
The transport department has said that under the Shakti Yojane, smart cards for women will be issued through the Seva Sindhu portal.
“Smart cards also lead to a denial of service as it creates multiple points of failure and opportunities for exclusion. The online portal may have issues. If there are centres to submit applications, the staff may be unavailable, their system may have issues, long queues may form, requiring multiple visits which poor people cannot afford. It is difficult for women from poor households in villages or slums to access Seva Sindhu or even any centres like Karnataka One to get this card,” the forum said in its memorandum.
The forum further wanted non-Karnataka women also to be allowed free travel under the scheme. The benefit should be extended to all senior citizens and students of the state as well, it said.
The forum also mentioned that the government must provide a written commitment to the transport corporations to ensure timely reimbursements.
“This commitment must be in an institutional manner and not as an ad hoc release of funds. The fund transfer must happen immediately for the current financial year and at the beginning of the financial year in subsequent years,” the memorandum stated.
Shakti Yojane is one of the five major poll “guarantees” of the Congress government. Under the scheme, women and transgender people from Karnataka can travel for free on buses of all the four transport corporations—the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation, and the Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation.
Private bus operators fear losses, want a share of the pie
Private bus operators in some districts have demanded that they too be included in the scheme. Nearly 90 per cent of the buses plying in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts are private ones and only 10 per cent of the buses belong to government corporations.
The private bus operators in the districts have said they are staring at huge losses. Dhilraj Alva, former president of the Dakshina Kannada Private Bus Operators Association, said, “Private bus operators also operate under the same permit and pay our taxes duly. The government should provide a level playing field so that private bus operators are also reimbursed. Otherwise we will incur huge losses in routes like Mangalore-Uppinangady, Mangalore-Puttur and Mangalore-Dharmastala, where most of the buses are operated by the government.”
Private bus operators protested in Tumkur on Tuesday against the Shakti Yojane saying that it would dent their revenue.
The transport department has said that under the Shakti Yojane, smart cards for women will be issued through the Seva Sindhu portal.(Representational/File) 
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