The Congress government in Karnataka started it and it was followed up by the Congress government in Telangana. In both the states, the Free bus for women was offered as an election promise. And both states are implementing it.
Apart from social consequences like fighting for seats and travelling for no reason, the “free bus” appears to have created a much bigger problem.
This was divulged by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a chat with a select group of senior journalists belonging to national media channels.
Modi said that the Free bus scheme was detrimental to the development and expansion of metro rail. He said he wouldn’t like to go about party-blaming, but said that the free bus scheme has hurt the Metro services hard.
The Prime Minister went on to say that due to free buses, there will be traffic congestion, pollution on the roads. The Prime Minister said the number of passengers using Metro have been halved in places where free buses ply. The PM expressed concern as to how the Metro will expand and how the country will progress if such poll promises are made.
Now, this has created a buzz in Telugu states. In Telangana, the reaction is negative as the free bus was first introduced in Congress-ruled states. But all eyes are on TDP chief and CM Chandrababu who also made a poll promise of providing free bus to women.
The Andhra political analysts say that in Andhra, the CM did not go wrong as there is no Metro for now in the state!
