Chandigarh| The women of Punjab will get the facility to travel free in all government buses within the state from Thursday. The scheme has been given its formal approval by the Cabinet, which was announced earlier this month by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. The Chief Minister announced the free travel scheme in the Legislative Assembly on March 5 as part of his government’s efforts to empower the girls and women of the state.
This scheme will benefit more than 1.31 crore women and girls across the state. According to the 2011 census, Punjab has a population of 2.77 crore, comprising 1,46,39,465 males and 1,31,03,873 females.
Under the scheme, women from Punjab can avail of free bus travel in government-owned buses including Punjab State Road Transport Corporation (PRTC), Punjab Roadways buses and city bus services.
However, the scheme is not applicable to government-owned air-conditioned buses, Volvo buses and HVAC buses.
Documents such as the Aadhaar Card, Voter Card, or any other proof of residence in Punjab will be required to avail of the facility.
Further, all women who are members of the family of state government employees and are residents of Chandigarh, or are themselves government employees, but reside in Chandigarh, despite free travel in government buses, according to age and income criteria Can benefit.
The scheme is expected to reduce not only female drop-outs in schools due to the high cost of daily transportation but also to facilitate working women who have to travel a considerable distance to their workplace. . Thus this facility will ensure access to safe, affordable and reliable travel for women to engage in any economic activity.
As the scheme is expected to encourage women and their partners to use public transport, it will naturally reduce the number of individual vehicles plying on the roads for pollution, accidents and the consequent reduction in vehicular congestion, The cabinet felt it.
