Growing women 'Shakti' pushes NWKRTC for fleet expansion

The overwhelming response for the ‘Shakti’ scheme, which is resulting in rush in many ‘government buses’, has prompted the North-Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) to reinforce its fleet strength.

After the launch of ‘Shakti’ scheme offering free bus rides for women on June 11, the number of women passengers in ordinary and express buses of the NWKRTC is increasing with each passing day. The corporation has raised a demand for 1,000 more buses and 1,500 additional staff.

In fact, the NWKRTC has not received any new buses after 2019-20. Even though the corporation decided to purchase 285 new buses raising loans, the project is still in the tender stage.

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“We have requested the government for 1,000 new buses to increase the fleet capacity and to replace old vehicles, while recruitment of 1,500 drivers-cum-conductors is also sought. The tender process to purchase 285 buses by raising loans is in the final stage,” said NWKRTC Managing Director Bharath S.

We have around 4,700 buses now. To control the rush at bus stands, home guards have been deployed wherever needed, he added.

NWKRTC Deputy Chief Traffic Manager H Ramanagoudar stated that the officials visit bus stands during peak hours, to ensure that additional buses are operated on routes that have more demand.

The number of women travellers has increased drastically after the launch of ‘Shakti’, the officials observe.

In the pre-Shakti days, the NWKRTC buses used to ferry 17 to 18 lakh passengers per day in six districts. Now, this number has reached 23 to 24 lakh. The number of women passengers has crossed 14 lakh per day after the launch of the scheme.

In just 10 days after the launch of ‘Shakti’, as many as 1.16 crore women have availed this facility, while ‘zero tickets’ worth Rs 29.61 crore were issued to them.

A NWKRTC officer noted that proper payment of salary, and other benefits would be difficult, if the reimbursement of ‘zero ticket’ amount by the government is delayed.