Private bus owners in Kerala are asking the new government to rethink its plan for free bus travel for women. They’re worried the scheme, a key election promise, will destroy their business and put lakhs of jobs at risk.
The DMK government’s ‘Magalir Vidiyal Payanam’ scheme in Tamil Nadu, which offers free bus rides to women, has been a huge success. Seeing this, many other states are now planning to launch similar schemes. In Kerala, the Congress party made it a major election promise.
Now that the Congress-led coalition has won a majority and is all set to form the government, private bus owners are getting worried. They have asked the government to reconsider the free travel plan. The All Kerala Bus Operators’ Organisation has complained that this decision was taken without even talking to them. They argue that this move could mess up the state’s entire public transport system and put the jobs of lakhs of private bus employees in danger.
T. Gopinathan, the organisation’s state general secretary, called the policy a “unilateral” decision. He warned that if women passengers shift completely to government buses, the private bus industry could collapse.
“If women stop taking private buses because of the free travel scheme, we might be left with only students as passengers,” Gopinathan said at a press conference. “That will seriously affect our ability to keep our services running.”
He urged the government to hold proper discussions with private operators before finalising such a huge policy change.
“The government’s one-sided move to introduce free travel for women will weaken Kerala’s public transport sector,” Gopinathan charged. “If things continue like this, the entire industry could disappear overnight.”
The organisation has also demanded a special financial package for the private sector to help them deal with the economic fallout from the scheme. The free travel promise was a key part of the five guarantees made by Rahul Gandhi before the April 9 assembly elections, which the Congress-led United Democratic Front won by a landslide.