Lucknow
The free bus travel scheme launched for women on Rakshabandhan festival in UP has made new records of passenger number this time. In view of this facility lasting three days, it is expected to make a record of 75 lakh passengers till 12 pm. According to the Transport Corporation, it can have up to 70 percent passengers, who are being given the benefit of free travel by the government. It is noteworthy that on the festival of Rakshabandhan, the Yogi government has given a big gift to the mothers and sisters of the state from August 8 to 10, the gift of free travel in the buses of the Transport Corporation. In this, this facility is also being provided to a co -passenger along with women.
75 lakh passengers travel in 3 days
According to UP Transport Minister Dayashankar Singh, 14-15 lakh passengers travel daily in corporation buses on normal days, but this time this figure reached more than 50 lakhs in the first two days of Rakshabandhan festival. About 70 percent of them were women passengers, who took advantage of the 66 -hour ‘gift of honor’ given by Chief Minister Yogi. MD Sarwar said that there was a huge crowd of passengers at the bus stations from 6 am on August 8.
On the first day i.e. August 8, more than 19.5 lakh people traveled, which was 25 percent more than normal days. On August 9 on the day of Rakshabandhan, this number reached 31.7 lakhs, which was more than 210 percent compared to normal days. On the third day, on August 10, by 12.50 pm, 13 lakh passengers had traveled and this number is expected to reach 25 lakh by 12 pm. In this way, more than 75 lakh people will travel in buses in three days, which is an unprecedented number in the history of Transport Corporation.
Additional buses run, all employees were deployed
He informed that on the instructions of the Chief Minister, this time from 6 am to 10 August midnight, free travel facility was provided for women and daughters in all categories of roadways buses. During this period, additional buses were run as per the requirement and all contracted buses were also engaged in operation. Special duty and additional employees were deployed in view of the large number of passengers at major bus stations- Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Meerut, Bareilly, Lucknow, Saharanpur, Agra, Aligarh, Kanpur and Etawah.
He also informed that a plan to give incentive amount to the driver-operators has been implemented, in which the payment of ₹ 1200 for completing 1800 km of operations and additional ₹ 0.55 per km will be given for continuous work for 6 days. At the same time, technical employees are also being given an incentive amount of ₹ 500 on every day. Personnel and supervisors who maintain better operations will also be honored at ₹ 5000 per station.
Sisters thank CM Yogi
Millions of women of the state who got the benefit of this facility thanked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for this gift. He said that this initiative of the Yogi government is not just a passenger facility, but a symbol of women empowerment and respect, which has not only increased the happiness of Rakshabandhan festival, but also crores of women have got the confidence of safe, accessible and respectable journey.
1.23 crore sisters got the benefit of free travel in the last 8 years
The scheme of free travel in roadways buses for mothers and sisters on Rakshabandhan started on the initiative of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2017 has become a symbol of women empowerment and social harmony in the last eight years. In these 8 years, 1,23,30,194 women have benefited from this, for which the government has bear the economic burden of ₹ 101.42 crore. In these years, more than 29 lakh women traveled free of cost in 2023.
