Women aged 60 years and above can travel free in ordinary Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) buses across UP from Friday, with the government allowing them to avail the facility simply by showing an Aadhaar Card or Voter ID instead of waiting for a special smart card, according to a government statement on Friday.
The facility, introduced under the ‘Lokmata Ahilyabai Matru Shakti Yatra Yojana’, will be available on both UPSRTC-operated and contracted ordinary buses across the state.
According to the UPSRTC, eligible women must show their Aadhaar Card or Voter ID to the conductor during the journey. The conductor will verify their age based on the date of birth recorded in the document and issue a zero-value ticket through the Electronic Ticketing Machine (ETIM).
The ticket will carry details including the bus number, place of commencement of the journey and destination. No fare will be charged for the ticket.
“Issuing a zero-value ticket for every free journey will be mandatory so that a complete record of the journey remains digitally available on the MIS/cloud-based data server. This will help maintain transparency in the implementation of the scheme and facilitate monitoring of travel-related data,” the UPSRTC said in a statement.
The corporation will separately undertake the process of issuing smart cards to eligible beneficiaries. However, a smart card has not been made mandatory for women to access the facility immediately.
The UPSRTC has directed conductors to follow the eligibility criteria and document verification process. No fare can be demanded or collected from an eligible woman passenger under the scheme. Action will be taken if fare is wrongly collected from an eligible beneficiary, according to the UPSRTC.
Regional officers and depot in-charges will regularly monitor the scheme’s implementation to ensure compliance and transparency.
