CM announced free travel without proposal, says Hardeep Singh Puri

New Delhi: Hitting out at the AAP government’s scheme of giving free-ride to women in buses and Metro, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, on Thursday, that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced the scheme without making any proposal.

However, rejecting Mr Puri’s charge, the Delhi government said that there was a “concrete plan” and there was also no lack of funds for the proposal to provide free ride to women in public buses and Metro trains.

Earlier this week, Mr Kejriwal announced that his government proposes to make travel for women free in public transport buses and Metro trains. The move comes a few months ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Delhi.

“Before the announcement of free ride for women, there should first be buses for this. Ask them (AAP government) as to how many buses they have against the sanctioned 11,000 buses in Delhi,” Mr Puri told reporters. There are around 5,400 buses, including 3,700 DTC buses and 1,700 cluster buses. As per the court order, there should be 11,000 buses in Delhi. In a press conference, Manish Sisodia refused to comment on Mr Puri’s attack on Mr Kejriwal.

“There is a concrete plan and also there is no lack of fund for the proposal to allow free travel to women in public transport buses and Metro trains,” he said.

Delhi’s transport minister Kailash Gahlot said on June 3 that he had directed the transport commissioner regarding the proposal, following which he had written to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on the same day.

“Communication with officials including those of Delhi Metro is going on. Even a meeting was held,” Mr Gahlot shot back at Mr Puri’s charge that Delhi government floated the proposal of providing free ride to women without any proposal.