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New Delhi: The Bengal government has launched a scheme of free bus travel for women to enhance their empowerment and to improve access to public transport in the state. They will get free bus travel from June 1. According to the reports , a smart card with QR code will be provided to women that will include all beneficiary details . Women’s passengers will be entitled to both short and long routes for the running buses in West Bengal.

The smart card will only be issued to women after proper verification of the documents. The documents required for the smart card are Aadhaar card, elector’s photo identity card (EPIC), a VB-G RAMG job card, an Ayushman Bharat health card, a driving license, a Pan card, a passport, a pension document with a photograph, an identity card of central/state government/PSUs, and identity cards issued by schools/colleges/universities.

Until the smart card is issued, the women passengers are allowed to enjoy the benefits of transport through the necessary valid documents that are Aadhaar card, voter identity card, driving licence, PAN card, passport and government-issued service identity cards, among others, as per the notification. After the verification of necessary documents, the conductors of the transport are given strict orders to issue zero-value tickets to the women passengers. This scheme will be useful from the 1st of June.

States which offer free bus services to women are – Delhi, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka , Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In Delhi, free travel for women was implemented in October 2019). Similarly, in Punjab, free travel on non-AC government buses started in April 2021. In Tamil Nadu the same started in May 2021.