"mahalakshmi-scheme"

Though the Congress government launched free RTC bus travel for women, fewer buses are plying on the city roads. Here women, mostly students, are forced to wait for a bus for long hours at the busy Himayatnagar.

RTC is planning to introduce a Semi-Deluxe category buses between these two categories. The ticket price will be 5 to 6 per cent higher than Express buses and 4 per cent lower than the Deluxe bus.

The government will finalise eligibility criteria based on land-holding and income sources of the eligible beneficiaries among others in this regard.

Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the initiative taken up to provide cooking gas cylinders at Rs.500 benefited around 40 lakh women in the State.

The Karnataka government proposed to hike the bus fare after the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) suffered a loss of Rs 295 crore due to the free bus ride scheme for women.

Though the five guarantees are believed to have propelled the Congress to power in the Assembly elections, they apparently did not help the party secure votes in the Lok Sabha elections.

The scheme, which offers free bus entitlement to ladies, has impacted the metro's average ridership.

Drawing attention to the Assembly election promises, the BRS leader recalled similar instances where the Congress did not implement its promises post victory.

Addressing party cadre of Gajwel assembly segment as part of a preparatory meeting of the Medak Lok Sabha election at Shamirpet on Saturday, Harish Rao said the State government was paying nothing to TSRTC and Civil Supplies Corporation to meet the expenses from the treasury.

With women travellers turning up in large numbers, the TSRTC has removed the grills in many buses that were earlier fixed to separate women and men travelling in buses.

The strike is expected to affect various transportation services, including those provided by Ola, Uber, Rapido, and porter cabs.

Amidst the protest, the legislators voiced deep concern over the distressing trend of suicides among auto drivers.

An irate auto rickshaw driver protesting against the ‘Mahalakshmi’ free bus travel scheme for women in the State set ablaze his vehicle near Praja Bhavan

This drop was attributed to the extended holidays and vacations in the third quarter, coupled with the initiation of the Mahalakshmi scheme offering free bus rides to women from December onwards

As part of the pre-budget meetings, the Deputy Chief Minister along with Transport and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar held a meeting with officials on the budget proposals on Transport and BC Welfare Departments at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

In the wake of increased passenger traffic in buses due to the recently launched Mahalakshmi scheme, TSRTC on Sunday suspended the Family-24 and T-6 tickets in the Greater Hyderabad region.

In this financial year, a total of 1,050 buses were introduced for the convenience of passengers.

The corporation plans to phase in these buses and make them available to the public by March 2024.

He affirmed that the management will not tolerate such incidents and will take legal action against those responsible.

Auto rickshaw drivers and owners fear that the free travel scheme may make a dent in their income.