VILLUPURAM: Sangeetha would spend nearly Rs 100 for bus travel everyday to reach her nursing college. She had applied for a bus pass last year but was denied one. A member of the Irula tribe and a first generation graduate, her parents would set aside Rs 100 everyday of their meagre salary to ensure her education. However, this changed for the better when Chief Minister MK Stalin announced free bus travel for women.
The nursing student’s parents were rescued from bonded labour at a brick kiln in 2009 and the family had settled in Veeranamur village near Tindivanam. C Sangeetha is the first person from her settlement of 25 Irula families to have cleared the class XII board exam and pursue a nursing degree at Mundiyambakkam Government Medical College.
The 19-year-old had applied for a free bus pass stating her family background to the District Transport Authority in 2020. But she was denied one as the transport department said, “There is no provision.” TNIE carried the story on March 11, 2020, and but no action was taken by the authorities.
“I can’t express how happy I am because of the scheme. Last year, I was struggling to get a free bus pass which was denied to me over and over again. Now every girl like me has to wait for nobody. We have got our own freedom to go to college without having to make our families suffer over bus fare expenses when there is already poverty starving us. I can be a guilt-free first-generation graduate now, my father will save my bus fare for the family’s expense,” Sangeetha told TNIE.
Sangeetha’s parents work multiple jobs to make ends meet including agricultural labour works, MNREGA work, and other daily wage labour works that they find in the village. “There had been days when we starved as the only money we earned would be spent for her bus fare. But we never compromised on it because her education came first before meals to us,” said Chinnasamy, Sangeetha’s father.
The scheme has given a new freedom that was before denied to the family. The elated family is now making plans to explore. “A scheme that allows my daughters and my wife to go wherever they want and win the world is beyond explanation to me. That Rs 100 can now go towards buying notebooks or stationery required for my children. We thank Chief Minister MK Stalin from the bottom of our hearts, for implementing a life-changing scheme, touching our lives,” Chinnaswamy added.