Free Travel For Women In RTC Buses From Ugadi: CM Chandrababu

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday announced free travel for women in RTC buses to commence from Ugadi. Addressing officials at the Secretariat, he directed the officials to finalize all the arrangements for the scheme and study the states which were already implementing such programmes to complete a review and to submit a detailed report on it.

The Chief Minister was reportedly to launch the scheme at Sankranti. After consulting Transport Minister Mandipalli Ramprasada Reddy and other officials, it has now been decided to keep the scheme in abeyance as it takes some time to set up the zero-ticketing system and associated infrastructure. Discussions resulted in a final decision that it should be launched on Ugadi.

The Chief Minister emphasized learning from challenges faced by other states. "Identify the problems encountered elsewhere and prepare solutions to avoid similar issues here," he directed. A ministerial sub-committee will visit Karnataka on January 3 and Delhi on January 6-7 to study the implementation in those regions and provide a comprehensive report.

Electric Buses: Exploring Options for Sustainability

The meeting also covered the need for electric buses under the 'PM-E' bus scheme. The officials told the Chief Minister that the central government is planning to provide 750 electric buses and an additional 1,250 buses are needed.

Chief Minister Naidu told officials to think through several options. "Should RTC lease these buses, buy them outright, or consider diesel buses? Which one would cut maintenance costs the most?" he asked. He also wanted a detailed study on financial and operational benefits of free travel for women and directed officials to submit a comprehensive report on these matters.