NEW DELHI: The Delhi government will offer free travel to people belonging to the third gender in DTC and cluster buses, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Monday.
He said a proposal for this will soon be passed by the Cabinet and the scheme implemented. “In our society, people belonging to the third gender are subjected to humiliation. This should not happen as they too are human beings and have the right to equality,” the chief minister said in a post in Hindi on ‘X’.
“The Delhi government has decided that they will get to travel for free in state-run buses. Soon, this will be passed by the Cabinet and implemented. I have full faith that people of the transgender community will be greatly benefitted by this move,” he added.
Women are already provided free travel on these buses in the national capital. The free travel scheme for women began in October 2019. In April last year, the Delhi High Court asked the city government to decide on a representation to legally recognise the transgender community as the third gender in bus tickets issued by the DTC.
The population of the transgender community in Delhi, according to the Census 2011, was 4,213. Officials said only 1,176 were enrolled as voters.
The Delhi government’s women and child development department had approved various measures including the addition of a “third gender” category in job forms and the setting up of monitoring cells to protect them from abuse.