From free ride commuters to bus owners: For the first time in India: One bus allotted to each women’s group

Hyderabad: The Indira Mahila Shakti Scheme, which was designed to boost self-confidence among women and help them attain financial stability, was a big hit.

For the first time in India, SERP has designed a scheme to procure 600 buses and lease them to TGSRTC, enabling Mandal Mahila Samakhyas to earn sustainable income. An agreement was signed between TGSRTC and SERP.

In the first phase, SERP identified 151 Mandal Mahila Samakhyas across 17 districts and facilitated the purchase of 151 buses, one for each federation.

In the second phase, an additional 449 buses will be purchased. Each bus costs Rs 36 lakh, of which Rs 6 lakh is contributed by the Mandal Mahila Samakhya from its own funds and the remaining Rs 30 lakh is provided as a Community Investment Fund. TGSRTC pays Rs 69,648 per month as rental for each bus with Rs 19,648 utilised as operational expenditure and the remaining Rs 50,000 paid towards loan repayment. TGSRTC has already released five installments so far.

Launched on March 8, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, the scheme is now yielding substantial benefits for women’s federations. TGSRTC has already released over Rs 5 crore to 151 Mandal Mahila Samakhyas.

The Maha Lakshmi free travel scheme has significantly increased ridership. With women’s groups providing buses on lease to RTC, rural connectivity has expanded, offering more services than before.

“Beyond free travel for women, being made owners of these buses is a matter of immense pride. Seeing the name of our Indira Mahila Shakti Mandal Samakhya on the bus gives us a sense of ownership and honour. We sincerely thank Chief Minister and Minister Seethakka on behalf of all women in our Mandal Samakhya”, P Padma, President, Mandal Samakhya, Eturunagaram, Mulugu district, said

As part of the Indira Mahila Shakti programme, our Mandal has been allotted a bus. Earlier, we faced many difficulties even to board a bus. Today, this government has not only given free bus travel to all women but has also made us bus owners by allocating a bus to our Mandal Samakhya. Through this bus, we are now earning Rs 69,000 per month, which has strengthened our federation financially and enabled us to meet our own expenditure comfortably. We are truly happy with this support.

M Bhagya Lakshmi, President, Venkatapur Mandal Samakhya, said.