VIJAYAWADA: Minister for Transport, Youth and Sports Mandipalli Ramprasad Reddy dismissed the campaign by opposition parties, sections of the media and social media platforms claiming that the State government was planning to scrap the women’s free bus travel scheme, ‘Stree Shakti’ as false and malicious on Friday.
In an official statement, the Minister said the scheme was being implemented successfully with the objective of women’s empowerment, safety and financial relief. “The attempts to create confusion among the public over the welfare initiative as highly irresponsible,” he maintained.
Reddy further clarified that there was ‘no question’ of discontinuing the scheme and asserted that it would instead be strengthened further. He said women across Andhra Pradesh had already made more than 67 crore free bus journeys under the scheme during the past nine months. “State government is bearing a subsidy burden of Rs 2,350 crore for the programme, of which Rs 720 crore has already been reimbursed to APSRTC,” the minister explained.
The minister stated that public confidence in APSRTC had increased significantly after the implementation of the scheme, with bus occupancy rising from 60 percent to 92 percent. He added that the number of male passengers purchasing tickets had also increased by 40 percent, improving RTC revenues.
Reddy said women’s deaths in road accidents had declined by 39 percent as more women were opting for RTC buses instead of private vehicles. He also announced that the government had proposed 1,450 new electric buses with Central assistance.
