Bengaluru: The “Shakti Yojana,” which offers free bus travel for women on government transport, is seeing growing demand and costs. While widely applauded, this initiative is placing a financial burden on the state.

Since its launch on June 11, the Shakti Scheme has provided free bus rides to approximately 84.31 crore women passengers, impacting the budgets of the four state transport corporations. Of the INR 2,800 crore allocated for the Shakti Yojana this year, nearly INR 2,000 crore has been spent on free tickets by all four corporations. This leaves a shortfall of about INR 440 crore for the remaining five months of the fiscal year, excluding June. In response, the Transport Department plans to request additional funding from the government in December to cover these expenses.

From June to September, the four state transport corporations distributed free tickets worth INR 1,603.30 crore, with only 68% of the funds released by the Finance Department so far. Transport Minister Ramalingareddy has assured that the balance will be released once the process is complete. Due to the scheme’s increasing popularity, an additional INR 1,000 crore will be requested in December, as the initially allocated funds are insufficient to sustain the Shakti Yojana’s operations.