Shakti scheme resulted in employment generation, says Santosh Lad

Labour Minister and in-charge for Dharwad district, Santosh Lad, said on Monday that the ‘Shakti’ scheme, under which free bus rides were provided to women in the State, had not only increased the number of women travelling by bus, but also resulted in employment generation leading to more women joining the transport corporation.

He was speaking at the celebration organised to mark 500 crore beneficiaries under the Shakti scheme at Hosur Bus Station in Hubballi on Monday. As part of the celebrations, puja was performed on the buses and sweets were distributed among the State transport employees and the passengers.

Mr. Lad said that after the introduction of the scheme, the number of women passengers in State transport buses had increased to 45% and in tandem with it, there is an increase in the number of woman employees in the transport corporation. The government had so far spent around ₹12,000 crore towards the 500 crore beneficiaries under the scheme, he said.

The Minister said over 10,000 vacancies had been filled in the Transport Department and 5,000 new buses had been procured.

The Minister said that celebrations had been organised across the State to mark the success of the pro-people scheme. “The employees of the State Road Transport Corporation are equally responsible for the success of the scheme as the State government. Especially the drivers, conductors, technical staff and officials have played a significant role,” he said.

Mr. Lad said that when compared to Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, Karnataka had more number of buses. “Karnataka has over 25,000 buses, and every day, 1.20 crore people travel by bus. Earlier, there were 80,000 passes and now the number has increased to 1,17,000 passes,” he said.

He said that in the buses of North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), women had availed 114 crore rides. “Under NWKRTC, women avail 16 lakh free rides daily. With 5,300 buses, NWKRTC operates 38,000 schedules daily. Prior Shakti scheme, the corporation used to operate 34,000 schedules. In the last two years, it has received 856 new buses and recruitment for various posts is under way,” he said.

MLA and chairman of Karnataka Slum Development Board, Prasad Abbayya, and MLA N.H. Konaraddi spoke on how the scheme has benefited the general public.

On the occasion, the passengers were given sweets, and employees of NWKRTC were felicitated. State vice-president of the Guarantee Scheme Implementation Committee S.R. Patil, Deputy Commissioner Divya Prabhu, G.R.J. Police Commissioner N. Shashikumar, ZP CEO Bhuvanesh Patil, and SP Gopal Byakod, among others, were present.