Hyderabad, Feb 19; The government has directed the RTC to quickly prepare smart cards for women’s free bus travel under the Mahalakshmi scheme. It has been tentatively decided to issue smart cards to women starting from June 2.
As part of the state budget preparatory meetings, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Bhatti Vikramarka held a meeting at the Secretariat on Wednesday. Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, RTC MD Nagi Reddy, and other officials attended.
During the meeting, MD Nagi Reddy explained the funding proposals for RTC in the 2026–27 state budget. On this occasion, Bhatti instructed that smart cards for women’s free travel under the Mahalakshmi scheme should be issued as early as possible.
The MD presented three types of smart cards to the Deputy CM and Minister Ponnam Prabhakar. Officials stated that the scheme would first be implemented as a pilot project in one district or mandal, and after resolving any technical issues, smart cards would be issued across the state. It was also decided to show the three types of smart cards to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
In the pilot project, about 5 lakh women will be given smart cards. These chip-enabled smart cards are estimated to cost around Rs. 75 crore to produce. RTC has requested the state government to provide financial assistance for this expenditure.
