Hyderabad: Transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Wednesday informed the council that occupancy in RTC buses has increased from 69% to 98% due to the free travel scheme for women.Replying to a question in the council, he said woman passengers now form a much larger share of RTC users, with daily ridership touching nearly 60 lakh. The minister also assured auto drivers that the Congress govt was working on a welfare scheme for them, which would be implemented soon.He slammed the opposition and others for making attempts to portray the free travel scheme negatively on social media by showing that women were fighting for seats. Such narratives undermine the dignity of women. Instead, constructive discussion on the initiative would be welcomed, he added.Ponnam Prabhakar also said the scheme has facilitated women to travel longer distances for employment, which resulted in increasing their earning opportunities. “Under the Maha Lakshmi scheme, 279 crore bus trips were made by women free of cost between Dec 9, 2023, and Feb 28, 2026. The Congress govt released 3,866 crore to RTC during 2024–25 and 2,913 crore up to Feb 26 in 2025–26 fiscal towards the scheme,” he added.Replying to queries by members from various parties, the minister said RTC’s credit cooperative society (CCS) dues were reduced from 664 crore to 300 crore, and the PF dues were reduced from 1,350 crore to 600 crore. So far, 2,708 new buses have been purchased and 3,038 posts were being filled. The govt has provided 1,132 compassionate appointments and implemented a 21% fitment related to 2017, he said.Stating that RTC employees have been extended a 1 crore accident insurance cover, Ponnam Prabhakar said the govt was promoting women’s economic empowerment by allotting 600 buses to women’s groups.
