Puducherry government mulls free bus travel for women

PUDUCHERRY: Chief Minister N Rangasamy on Friday said the territorial government was considering a proposal to introduce free bus travel for women on public-sector PRTC buses.

Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of a private function here, Rangasamy said the Puducherry administration wanted to introduce free bus travel for women a few years ago, but implementation was delayed.

"We have now intensified our efforts to introduce free bus travel for women as had been done in the neighbouring state (Tamil Nadu)".

Rangasamy said that the government would also procure 100 more buses to strengthen the PRTC fleet to cover as many areas as possible and to augment services in the existing routes.

Referring to the similar scheme launched in neighbouring Tamil Nadu on Friday, Rangasamy said the Puducherry government had already proposed such a scheme. But hurdles from a section of bureaucrats had delayed the introduction of the scheme, he said.