File photo of women commuters inside a KSRTC bus in Majestic, Bengaluru.
DH Photo by B K Janardhan
Bengaluru: Karnataka’s Congress government has released nearly Rs 400 crore more to fund the free bus travel scheme for women, raising the expenditure on the flagship guarantee to Rs 3,200 crore in the current financial year.
The highly popular scheme, launched on June 11, 2023, is expected to require Rs 1,000 crore more, well-placed sources say.
In the budget for 2023-24, the government had earmarked Rs 2,800 crore for the scheme. It decided to give Rs 1,988 crore as financial assistance, Rs 560 crore under the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan and Rs 252 crore under the Scheduled Tribe Sub Plan.
But just months after the scheme rolled out, it was clear that the funds would be inadequate. On average, the scheme costs Rs 450 crore per
month.
On March 11, 2024, KSRTC Managing Director V Anbukumar wrote to the government, requesting an additional Rs 1,373.77 crore for the scheme. He stated that Rs 2,800 crore would not be enough.
The Finance Department agreed to release another Rs 399.75 crore for the four RTCs. The transport secretariat ordered the release of funds on March 13.
While the source cited above said the government had released the money, it said the RTCs needed nearly Rs 1,000 crore more to meet the expenditure until the end of March 2024.
However, the government believes it owes the RTCs only Rs 300 crore more because it has already given them motor vehicle tax exemptions worth Rs 580 crore.
The source said the tax exemption shouldn’t clubbed with the Shakti scheme. “The tax exemption is given because bus fares haven’t been hiked for years. It reduces our expenditure but doesn’t add to our revenue,” the source said, hoping the government would provide more funds.
Between June 11, 2023, and March 15, 2024, the Shakti scheme cost Rs 4,112 crore as over 171 crore women travelled for free on government buses. Considering the average daily cost (Rs 15.45 crore), the scheme will require another Rs 250 crore.
The scheme has helped boost the RTCs’ overall revenue as their daily average ridership has increased by 25 per cent to 1.02 crore.
The government earmarked Rs 5,015 crore for the scheme in the budget for 2024-25. A high-ranking official in the Finance Department said the expenditure next year would likely reach Rs 6,000 crore.