Chennai, Oct 2:
Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay today launched the expanded ‘Vetri Payanam’ scheme for women at the Koyambedu bus terminus in Chennai, extending free travel to a wider range of government bus services across Tamil Nadu.
The scheme, launched on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, expands the existing free bus travel programme for women beyond ordinary city and town buses. Women can now travel free of cost on government Express, Limited Stop Service (LSS) and Deluxe buses operating in metropolitan and urban areas. The benefit has also been extended to ordinary mofussil buses and ordinary buses operating on hill routes beyond 40 km.
During the launch, Vijay distributed free travel tickets to women beneficiaries and interacted with passengers. The expanded scheme is intended to enable women to travel to workplaces, educational institutions, hospitals and other essential destinations without having to bear the cost of bus fares.
As many as 12,692 government buses operated by the seven State Transport Undertakings have been brought under the expanded scheme. This accounts for about 69 per cent of the 18,413 scheduled buses operated by the State transport corporations. Around 1.65 lakh scheduled trips, or nearly 85 per cent of the total scheduled services, will come under the scheme.
The State government estimates that around 84.32 lakh women will benefit from the scheme every day. There is no income ceiling or restriction on the number of journeys for eligible beneficiaries. Transgender persons are also covered under the scheme. The government has estimated an annual expenditure of around Rs. 6,000 crore for the programme.
The expansion is expected to make longer-distance travel more accessible. Women can use eligible Express services and change buses at different points to continue their journey, depending on the availability of covered services. Routes such as Tiruchirappalli-Dindigul, Thanjavur-Nagapattinam, Coimbatore-Erode, Erode-Salem, Madurai-Virudhunagar and Tirunelveli-Nagercoil are among those where women can make use of the expanded benefit.
The government had completed the integration of the scheme with electronic ticketing machines in the covered buses. Trial and verification exercises were conducted ahead of the statewide rollout. The expanded programme is expected to particularly benefit students travelling to colleges located away from their homes, working women commuting to workplaces and those travelling for medical treatment and other essential needs.
The free travel programme was originally introduced as ‘Magalir Vidiyal Payanam’, under which women were allowed to travel free on eligible ordinary government buses in urban areas. The TVK government renamed the expanded programme ‘Vetri Payanam’ and announced its wider implementation in the Assembly in August.
The statewide expansion came into effect on October 2, with the Koyambedu launch marking the formal rollout of the enlarged free travel facility.