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Yet another populist sop by Siddu before polls; free bus passes to Dalit students

  • Siddaramaiah’s new gift is said to benefit around 45,000 SC/ST students
  • Presently, students under all categories are bearing 25 per cent of the bus pass cost
  • Bus passes for this year to be issued from June 12; government to take care of 25 per cent cost borne by SC/ST students
  • Siddaramaiah is implementing this long pending proposal of the Transport department, just in time of elections
Yet another populist sop by Siddu before polls free bus passes to Dalit students
Author
Bengaluru, First Published Jun 2, 2017, 6:33 PM IST

It’s election year, and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been busy wooing Dalits and OBCs with his populist schemes and measures, all in a bid to improve his Ahinda image.

So it comes as little surprise that on Friday he doled out yet another sop, solely aimed at the Dalit community. Siddaramaiah now wants to give free bus passes to SC/ST students across the State. A novel scheme nevertheless - but it’s ironical this benefit, along with several other recent announcement, comes just a few months ahead of elections, and were not rolled out earlier.

This ‘bus pass bhagya’, if one were to take the liberty to call it so, will come into effect immediately. Though the chief minister’s office has claimed that this measure will lead to an additional expenditure of Rs 104 crore, officials in the know said that it would be more than Rs 120 crore.

The expenses will be borne under the surplus funds accrued under the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan/Tribal Sub-Plan (SCSP/TSP). Siddaramaiah made this announcement after reviewing the developmental projects/programmes taken up under SCSP/STP by various departments.

As per a rough estimation, around 45,000 SC/ST students will benefit from the scheme. With schools and colleges reopening this month, the Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), will start issuing bus passes from June 12. 
This year, around 18.5 lakh students will be issued the passes. As per the existing system, students of all categories are required to pay only 25 per cent of the total cost of a bus pass. While the government has been bearing 50 per cent of the cost, the remaining 25 per cent is being borne by the four transport corporations.

However, from this month onward, the government will cover the 25 per cent cost borne by the SC/ST students. The Transport department said that of the 18.5 lakh students, around 24 per cent of them represent the SC/ST community.
Officials said that the announcement would not only bring much cheer to the students, it would also help them gain access to higher education, literally.

“Most students drop out of schools or fail to take up higher education because they can’t afford to travel long distances on an everyday basis to reach an educational institution. With the government offering free bus passes, these students will be in a position to travel 50 to 60 km away from their towns or villages, without having to worry about the transportation cost,” said an official.

Students, on an average are spending around Rs 1,000 on bus passes for a period of 10 months. The Transport department has been distributing free bus passes to students up to 7th standard. 
 

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