YCP In A Hurry To Fulfill TDP’s Poll Promise!

The YCP government is in a frenzy to implement the free travel in RTC buses at the beginning of the New Year. Though the TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu had announced that they would bring it into force, as part of their Mahasakthi guarantee, once their government would be voted to power, YCP boss and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy seems to be in a hurry to hijack the scheme and take credit to it.

Having seen the immense positive response from the public for the scheme in neighbouring Telangana and Karnataka states, Jagan reportedly had already instructed the officials to study the intricacies in the implementation of the scheme.

According to information, Jagan is planning to bring the scheme into force after Sankranti next year. The CM asked the CMO and GAD officials to prepare a detailed report about the implementation of the scheme.

It is pertinent to note that Chandrababu Naidu had announced about the scheme at Mahanadu held in Rajahmundry in May and also during the recently held ‘Yuvagalam-Navasakam’ public meeting held at Polepalli in Vizianagaram district.

Having witnessed how the Congress came to power in the neighbouring states promising about women-centric schemes, there is buzz that the YCP government may make the scheme available in Palle Velugu, Express, and city bus services in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada too.

The officials are trying to understand the effect of the scheme on RTC’s income and the funds that have to be borne by the state government.

According to the official figures, an average of 40 lakh people travel in APSRTC buses and 15 lakh of them are women.  Similarly, there are 10 lakh people travelling with bus passes. Of them, 3-4 lakh are students and women.

With the existing number of passengers, the RTC is accruing an income of Rs 17 crore and if women are provided free travel, the income could drop by Rs 6 crore.

It has to be seen what the CM would do to claim credit for the scheme.