174 buses to ferry rural masses

 A total of 9,570 members from five districts belonging to rural areas and BPL families, who have not seen the city during Dasara celebrations, will be benefitted by the excursion programme to be organised by Dasara Darshana Sub-committee this year.

KSRTC will make exclusive trips to ferry these people from their villages to Mysore between October 6 and October 10. The beneficiaries will not only be taken around the city, they will be given free food during the trip.

Among the estimated members to arrive for the day’s trip, 70 per cent will be women and children, and 30 per cent men. Beneficiaries will be selected by tahsildars of respective taluks (29 taluks) of Mysore, Mandya, Kodagu, Hassan and Chamarajanagar. The beneficiaries will also be given Rs 50 per head to go around the city and soak up the views like Chamundi Hills, Amba Vilas Palace, Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens.

Later, they will be given a choice between Brindavan Gardens and Yuva Dasara. A total of 174 Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses have been dedicated for the purpose, and Rs 31.49 lakh has been set aside for the purpose. The trip will start at 5 am for villages that are far away, and at 7 am for the ones nearer to Mysore, and will culminate at 10 pm. 

Divisional Controller (Rural), KSRTC, B V Srinivas, also the working president of the sub-committee told the media here on Thursday that the programme will have beneficiaries from Mysore, Hassan and Kodagu districts (18 taluks) travelling to Mysore  during the first three days, followed by residents of Mandya and Chamarajanagar villages on October 9 and 10.

He said that of the funds released so far, Rs 26 lakh will be utilised to ply 174 buses, Rs 3.84 lakh for Zoo entry, and the rest for banners, printing passes and ID cards for beneficiaries, videograph and photograph charges, and drinking water. A meeting will be conducted on September 24 for tahsildars of all taluks in this regard.  Non-official members of the sub-committee, however, were insistent on increasing the number of buses, beneficiaries and budget.

President of the sub-committee R M Rajappa, said, an additional fund of Rs 10 lakh will be sought from the government through the district administration.

Following the discussion, Srinivas said that he had prepared an estimation of Rs 20 lakh to be sought for food and additional buses, so that a few more taluks can be brought under the programme.