Karnataka's Shakti scheme: Women won't need smart cards for months

Women wouldn’t need smart cards for several more months to travel for free on government buses in Karnataka. The state government’s plans to issue Shakti scheme beneficiaries smart cards in September have been delayed because the task is “humongous”, officials said. 

The Shakti scheme allows women domiciled in Karnataka to travel for free on non-premium buses plying within the state. Launched on June 11, it has benefited 38.69 crore women until August 13 and cost the exchequer Rs 899 crore. 

While the government allows women to produce their local ID to make use of the scheme, it stipulated that they would need to get smart cards on its Seva Sindhu portal after three months. 

But technical constraints and operational problems have held up the process. Besides the delay, authorities have also made a slight change to the smart card requirement. Women will be given smart cards that will serve as ID cards but wouldn’t contain their travel details. 

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said smart cards had been delayed because Seva Sindhu authorities had declined to issue them. “We’ll have to issue nearly 3 crore smart cards to eligible women,” he told DH. “It’s a huge task.” 

The Seva Sindhu portal is managed by the Directorate of Electronic Delivery of Citizen Services.  The government will instead call separate tenders in each of the state’s 31 districts to make these smart cards, Reddy said.  N V Prasad, Secretary of the Transport Department, reiterated the smart card requirement and added that modalities were being worked out. 

V Anbukumar, Managing Director, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), said smart cards given to Shakti scheme beneficiaries would not be smart in the real sense. 

They will be unlike metro smart cards, which track the passenger’s travel details, ticket cost, etc, he added. “It’s difficult to operate or monitor such smart cards on buses. Nowhere in the country has this been done,” he stated. “Our smart cards will be mere ID cards that will contain basic details such as the holder’s name, address, etc.” 

He added that these “half-smart cards” would be used until the Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) evolved a mechanism for full-fledged smart cards. 

“That will happen only after a year or so because we will need huge funds, back-end support and technical know-how,” he explained. A final decision on issuing the half-smart cards will be taken later this month, he added. He also said the state’s four RTCs would need more than a month to issue the required 1.5 crore to 2.5 crore half-smart cards.  Another KSRTC official said the half-smart cads would also mention the validity period.