Puducherry Makes Bus Rides Free For Woman, Increases Widow Allowance

The Chief Minister of Puducherry recently discussed the Budget in the legislature and revealed that the government has decided to make rides in Puducherry's public transport buses free for women. The government has also increased the monthly allowance of widows in the union territory.

The announcement was made on March 17 during the discussion in the house about the Budget for the next financial year. Chief Minister N. Rangasamy said that the free bus ride facility for women in the Puducherry Road Transport Corporation will be available to all the women of the city.

Earlier, this benefit was announced only for women belonging to the Adi Dravidar community in Puducherry. However, the legislators demanded that the scheme should be for all women and hence, the government agreed to the suggestion.

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Free Bus Rides For Women In Puducherry

The Budget also mentioned that the monthly pension for widows will be increased from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 3000. It also included the concept of yellow ration cards for people that will help them avail Medical Relief Assistance from the government worth Rs. 5 lakhs for treatment of particular diseases.

The government is also looking forward to providing benefits to farmers and landholders in the town like crop damage compensation and incentives.

Puducherry is not the first city to make public transport free for women. Delhi already has bus rides in Delhi Public transport free of cost for women. In fact, recently states like Rajasthan and Mumbai made public transport buses free for women on the occasion of International Women's Day. Various other states also exempt women from paying for bus tickets on several occasions and festivals.

The free bus ride scheme might seem like a simple exemption but is actually a great initiative to encourage women to take public transport. The safety of women in public transport still remains a major issue in the country and initiatives like this help to make them safer and affordable for women to travel.