North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation issues free bus pass to labourers

HUBBALLI: The North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) has started issuing bus pass free of cost to registered building, and other construction workers, a move that has been greeted with undisguised glee by the thousands of labourers in the sector.
The scheme is aimed at easing the financial burden on the labourers, for whom the money spent on bus tickets is much too precious.

Nearly 38 lakh labourers are registered with the state government’s Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board, all of whom are entitled to the free bus pass, using which they can travel a distance of 45km from the point they board a government bus.
Within the jurisdiction of NWKRTC, more than two lakh construction workers are expected to benefit from the move.
Sources in the government said that the scheme was envisaged in the aftermath of the Covid-induced crisis, which added to the fiscal troubles of the impoverished construction workers.
Karnataka labour minister, Shivaram Hebbar said that, the state government was eager to ensure that the scheme benefitted the very last registered construction worker, and to that end, the allocation for the initiative was increased to Rs 300 crore. “Of this, we have already disbursed a sum of Rs 79 crore to the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) towards issuance of bus pass to 22,000 workers,” the minister said.
Hebbar said that chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, who had flagged off the initiative in Bengaluru, and the scope was subsequently expanded to benefit workers across the state. “Thus, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, North East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation, and NWKRTC too will issue free bus pass to construction workers,” he added.
The minister said that a virtual meeting would be convened, and officials appraised about the nitty-gritty of the scheme through a video conference. “We have already appointed officials in the labour department to serve as nodal officers for the implementation of the scheme, who will work in tandem with their counterparts in the transport department,” Hebbar added.
Senior officials in the construction workers’ board said that they had received more than 11,000 applications from labourers across the state for a free bus pass. Dharwad district labour officer, Lalit Satenahalli said that there were more than 1.4 lakh registered construction workers across the district.
“We are encouraging them to avail of the benefit, and get a free bus pass,” Satenahalli said.