Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Jun 11: For the first time in the state, the Karnataka government has launched a guarantee scheme providing free bus passes to all students. Transport minister Byrathi Suresh announced the initiative.

The minister informed that students who have already paid money to purchase bus passes will receive a full refund. While free bus travel was previously restricted to female students, the Congress government led by chief minister D K Shivakumar has taken a major decision to extend this benefit to male students as well. Guidelines regarding the distribution of the free bus passes have been prepared and will be released soon, he added.

"The primary objective of our government is to ensure that every child can pursue education without any financial burden. Accordingly, the chief minister had announced this free bus pass scheme, and the transport department is now implementing it," Suresh said.

Students are required to submit the prescribed application forms for the free bus pass at Karnataka One or Bengaluru One centres within the next couple of days. The process of distributing the free passes will commence immediately after the verification of the applications, the minister stated.