State plans special cards for women’s free govt bus rides

Kolkata: The state govt, which announced free rides for women on govt buses, said on Tuesday that it would issue special cards to women who travel by govt buses."We have promised free rides for women on govt buses and that will start from June 1. However, we will issue cards for that to prevent any misuse," chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said."At the moment, all women will get free rides from next week. But later, we will introduce a card system," Adhikari said, alleging that during the Trinmool govt, there were instances where men from Domkal in Murshidabad got benefits of Lakshmir Bhandar."If someone wearing a burka boards an NBSTC bus from Siliguri to Digha, the driver or the conductor has no mechanism to check if that person is a woman or a man," the CM said.