Bengaluru, Sept. 30 -- The Karnataka government has initiated steps to introduce Shakti smart cards for women beneficiaries of its flagship Shakti scheme, aimed at preventing alleged misuse of the free bus travel facility.

The Shakti scheme was launched on June 11, 2023, providing free bus travel to women across the four state-run transport corporations. However, complaints have emerged alleging that women from other states are using fake or fraudulent Aadhaar cards to avail themselves of the benefit, resulting in financial losses to the transport corporations.

To address the issue, the government has floated a tender at an estimated cost of Rs 250 crore to provide smart cards to around one crore women beneficiaries across Karnataka. Th...