R V Deshpande.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: A day after Congress president Mallikajrun Kharge pulled up Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, the party's senior lawmaker RV Deshpande on Friday argued in favour of reviewing the ‘guarantee’ schemes, which he said are being misused “in some places”.
On Thursday, Kharge reprimanded Shivakumar for suggesting that the popular Shakti scheme of free bus travel -- one of the five guarantees -- should be reviewed as some women want to pay for their tickets.
Deshpande, who heads the administrative reforms commission, backed Shivakumar. “He said it with good intent,” he said.
"The guarantees will require Rs 65,000 crore every year. They're good programmes, but we see that they're being misused in some places," Deshpande said. "With (Shakti), for example, some women are travelling to the same places repeatedly. Giving things free of cost...it's as good as it’s dangerous," he said.
Deshpande, the senior-most lawmaker having won nine times, said Shivakumar was right about the Shakti scheme. “We need to have transparency. There must be benefits only to the extent that one deserves. Steps in that direction aren’t wrong, according to me,” Deshpande said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy Shivakumar have clarified that there is no proposal to review any 'guarantee' scheme, including Shakti.
Cap on distance?
There are discussions in the government to put a cap on the distance a woman can travel for free under the Shakti scheme, according to a person directly aware of this. Authorities are discussing a daily or monthly limit.
For this, the government must first roll out smart cards for women, a much-delayed exercise.
“Once the smart cards are issued, women can swipe while getting on and off buses to track the distance they’ve travelled,” a senior official said.
Proud of guarantee model, says DKS
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday said he is proud of the guarantee schemes implemented in Karnataka. "It is a model for the entire country," he said. "The BJP is adopting this model and so are other parties. We're very proud that we could implement and deliver the guarantees," he said, a day after being hauled up by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for saying that the Shakti scheme would be reviewed.