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Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah handed over the symbolic 500th crore ticket to a woman here on Monday under the Shakti scheme, the State's free bus travel initiative for women.
Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar distributed tickets to women passengers on the bus near Windsor Manor Bridge in Bengaluru. On this occasion, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, and several other dignitaries were present. Five guarantee schemes were announced during the 2023 Assembly election. The Shakti Yojana was launched on June 11 as per the decision taken in the Cabinet to implement it immediately after the government came into existence on May 20, 2023. The Chief Minister explained that since then, women in the state have been provided free travel facilities in government buses. Speaking to the reporters, Siddaramaiah also said that he, his cabinet colleagues, and Congress MLAs will not participate in the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Kalasavalli-Ambargondlu Bridge, which is scheduled to take place later today. He said that it was a mark of protest as his request to postpone the event at Sagar taluk in Shivamogga district was not accepted by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. "I had called Nitin Gadkari and asked him to postpone the program. He said he would postpone it. But now, bowing to the pressure from local BJP leaders, they are going ahead with the event," Siddaramaiah told reporters. "But here, protocol has been violated. As a mark of protest, none of us is participating in the program. Congress MLAs from the region, the District Minister, and the Minister for Public Works are all staying away. They are deliberately creating a rift between the central and state governments," he added. Meanwhile, Congress MP Surdeep Singh Surjewala accused the Centre of insulting the Chief Minister and the people of the State. "Insulting the people of Karnataka and Kanadigas has become a habit of the BJP. This is not just an insult to the Chief Minister of Karnataka, but to the seven crore people of Karnataka," Surjewala told ANI. "BJP thinks of Karnataka as just a money-making machine. They take one rupee in the form of GST and give us back only 13 paise. They do not give us Rs 5300 crore for the Upper Bhadra project. They don't clear the Krishna Water Tribunal," he added. (ANI)
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