Free bus passes announced for working women by CM Bommai is described as ‘unscientific’ and demanded that the scheme should be extended to all women as done in Delhi since October 2019
The scheme of free bus passes for working women is unscientific and unemployed women need it much more than the working women, felt Aam Aadmi Party State Joint Secretary and Chamaraja constituency aspirant Malavika Gubbivani.
“In Delhi, AAP has introduced free bus passes to all women since October 2019. Even though CM Basavaraj Bommai has taken more than three-and-a- half years to copy this scheme, it is regrettable that he has not made it free for all women,” she said.
“What is the definition of a working woman? Isn’t a housewife a working woman? Doesn’t she need to travel? How does the government decide who is a working woman? What is their opinion about those women who work in the unorganised sector? What is the reasoning behind limiting the facility to working women? The scheme appears useful at a superficial glance but does not reach the really deserving beneficiaries. This one too falls in the same category,” she said in a press statement here.
Women should not be dependent on others even for their bus fare. The unemployed or women working in the unorganised sector need it more than employed women in organised sectors. “But the government has kept these helpless women out of the scheme. Declaring any scheme without clear guidelines is a sure-shot recipe for failure. If CM Bommai really wants to empower women, he should make the scheme applicable to all women,” Ms. Gubbivani demanded.
The AAP leader claimed that the scheme of distributing free sanitary pads to school girls has been silently stopped. The rural and poor girls need hygiene more than others. Will this free bus pass scheme also vanish into the thin air like this scheme?” she asked.
She demanded that the bus pass scheme should be extended to all women and the “Suchi” scheme must be restarted at the earliest.
About The Author
