Free bus travel for women drains Punjab transport's budget; Rs 450 cr allotted, Rs 800 cr is costing

The free travel facility for women on state transport buses is costing the Punjab transport dearly.

Against the annual allocation of Rs 450 crore, the free facility is costing the state transport undertakings – Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC), Punbus, and Punjab Roadways – nearly Rs 800 crore.

As per official records from the Department of Transport, Punjab, over 3 lakh women avail the free bus travel facility daily. Nearly 11 crore women availed the facility during the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Sources in the department said that an additional allocation of budgetary provision is being made through the Social Security and Women and Child Development Department.

As per practice, the transport department raises the demand.

“The populist scheme is bleeding the state transport undertaking as dues running into crores are yet to be reimbursed by the state government to service providers. The government owes over Rs 700 crore to it for providing free bus travel to women until last month. The matter has been taken up with the finance department,” said a senior government functionary.

With more women now traveling in government buses, especially those from lower-income groups, the increase in the number of women travelers availing the free bus facility has resulted in mounting dues and expenditure. This has also resulted in a drastic dip in the income from bus passes.

Started in 2021 during the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government, currently, an Aadhaar card is accepted as the unique identification card for women travelers to avail free bus travel. As per the existing practice, the conductor of a bus has to feed the unique ID number of the beneficiary into the electronic ticketing machine.

“A move by the transport department to prepare smart cards for women availing the facility – to get real-time data of women availing the free bus travel facility – is pending with the state government,” said a senior government functionary.