Free bus travel for Chennai seniors

CHENNAI: Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Thursday rolled out another freebie for Chennaiites. Making an announcement in the Assembly under Rule 110, she said senior citizens in Chennai could now travel free in Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses from February 24 (Jayalalithaa’s birthday).

Recalling there was a poll promise in 2011 election manifesto to provide free bus passes to aged persons, she said, the scheme under the first phase would be implemented in Chennai. Based on the project’s success, it will be expanded to other parts of Tamil Nadu. Under the scheme, public who are above 60 years of age can travel free of cost in all MTC buses, excluding air-conditioned buses. The transport corporation depots will accept applications in this regard and no last date has been fixed for accepting the forms.

Ten tokens will be given to a beneficiary for a month and commuters should hand over the tokens to conductors during their journey, Jayalalithaa said. Application forms for the scheme will also be available online and the depots that will provide application forms will soon be uploaded in the transport department website, she said. After filling the forms, senior citizens should attach their photograph to receive identity cards and monthly tokens, she said.

With this, all promises made by the AIADMK in the 2011 Assembly elections manifesto have been fulfilled. “We had clearly mentioned in our manifesto that steps would be taken to make Tamil Nadu march on the path of growth and for this, importance to sectors like education, health, agriculture, basic infrastructure, environment, housing, electricity and industrial growth had been given by the state under the AIADMK government,” she said.