Naidu Govt's Women's Day Shocker: Free Bus Travel Now Restricted to Districts!

In a latest revelation, the TDP-led NDA government announced that the free bus travel scheme for women will be limited to their respective districts. Women and Child Welfare Minister Gummadi Sandhya Rani provided this clarification in the State Legislative Council on the eve of International Women’s Day.

In the run-up to the elections, the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance had run extensive advertisements promoting the scheme, which was also one of the coalition’s “Super Six” promises.

It is important to note that the Chandrababu Naidu government had repeatedly assured citizens that plans were underway to introduce the free bus travel scheme for women. The government even constituted a committee of ministers to study the scheme, which is already being implemented in Karnataka and Telangana.

Despite these promises, the TDP government has delayed the scheme's implementation on several occasions. Recently, the government had promised to launch the scheme on Ugadi. However, just weeks before the Telugu New Year, it seems that the NDA government has taken a U-turn on this key electoral promise.

Additionally, no allocation was also made for the scheme in the Budget presented in the Assembly on February 28 for the financial year 2025-26.