BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that 1,400 new electric buses will be added to the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) fleet by April next year.
“Till now, 120 crore women have travelled for free in state transport buses. Around 40 lakh people commute on BMTC buses. Women belonging to all castes, religion and classes are travelling freely”, said Siddaramaiah, who was talking about the programme organised by the BMTC after launching 100 electric buses in front of the east gate of Vidhana Soudha.
He also hit out at the BJP for criticising the free bus travel scheme and questioned why the BJP did not implement such a pro-people scheme when they were in power.
The CM explained the positive outcome of the government’s pro-people schemes, saying, “The purchasing power of the people in the state has increased and there is a boom in financial activities which boosts the economy of the state. Farm and women labourers and women from the working class can save enough money. This is helping them meet their other financial needs and has also increased the financial power of such families”.
He further added that 4.30 crore people are enjoying the benefits of the guarantee schemes. “With the increased financial power, the poor and working class are being enabled to come into the mainstream. This was made possible only after Congress came into power. The previous BJP government, which has failed in achieving this, is engaged in criticising us”, the CM said.
Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad presided over the function and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Transport Minister Ramalongareddy were also present. RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge, Higher Education Minister Dr MC Sudhakar, Sports Minister Nagendra, Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil, MLC UB Venkatesh, Chief Minister’s political secretary Govindaraju, Nasir Ahmed and others too were present at the event. (ANI)