No Free Bus Passes For Students In Karnataka, Ticket Fares Likely To Go Up thenewsminute.com

In a move that will affect thousands of students in the state, Karnataka Transport Minister DC Thammana announced on Tuesday that the Transport Department won’t be issuing free bus passes this year. He said this was due to the losses that BMTC is reeling under.

The students were promised free bus passes by former CM SIddaramaiah in his last Budget in February. While free bus passes were earlier restricted to students of the SC/ST category, the Siddaramaiah-led government in February had announced that all students in the state will be able to avail the scheme.

After the Congress-JD(S) combine came to power, it repeatedly maintained that all welfare schemes put in place by the Siddaramaiah government would be continued in the state. However, the Budget announced by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy did not mention this promise.