Kejriwal announces free metro rides for women, twitterati takes a jibe

Pic/Twitter

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced free rides for women in all DTC buses, cluster buses and Delhi Metro trains in order to provide a safe travel experience.

The decision came days after ruling the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered defeat and lost all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi in the recently concluded general elections.

Congress and BJP leaders termed it as a publicity stunt. The BJP's Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari alleged that the AAP government's proposal to make metro and bus travel free for women is a "desperate bid to buy votes".

Attacking the Kejriwal government over an insufficient number of buses in the city, he said, "Around one crore women in the city will need 20,000 buses, but we have just 3,500-3,800. Where will they sit?"

The Delhi Congress dubbed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's announcement on Monday to provide free travel to women in public transport buses and Metro trains as a "publicity stunt" made in view of the coming Assembly elections.

"Kejriwal often makes announcements which he either does not fulfil or which do not come under his jurisdiction. The Assembly elections in Delhi are due in the next few months and he should stop publicity stunt by making such announcements," Delhi Congress spokesperson Jitender Kochar said.

Twitterati also took the opportunity and had fun by sharing memes on the micro-blogging site.

Experts in the field of public transport expressed mixed reactions on the Kejriwal government's proposal to make the commute for women in public transport buses and Metro trains free, saying there was no direct link between safety and free rides.

Top Stories of the day

• Mumbai: 14-year-old girl leaves home with Rs 5,000 to meet Tik Tok star in Nepal
• Mumbai Crime: Borivli businessman held for raping 19-year-old woman in flat
• Mumbai: One dead, two injured as two cars collide near Mahalaxmi Racecourse
• Plant twice the number, or pay up for new trees, Badlapur man who hacked 860 trees told
• Mumbai: 16-storey apartments to accommodate 28,000 civic cleaners
• No more sea view south Mumbai home for the guard from Govandi
• Mumbai doctor's suicide: Crime Branch wants custody of three accused doctors in Payal Tadvi case
• Maharashtra is fifth worst in ragging cases; 10 pc ragging complaints over caste-based harassment
• Declare internal assessment marks, state board tells junior colleges
• Make Marathi compulsory in schools, political parties say
• Mumbai: Auto crackdown nets RTO record revenue
• Rules to regulate babus' conduct on new media?
• After Dabangg 3, Salman Khan to start shooting for Kick 2
• Mira Rajput trolled for walking barefoot, with heels in hand at Mumbai airport
• Ali Abbas Zafar: Didn't alter script for Katrina
• Taapsee Pannu: Don't feel like an insider, don't wish to be one
• Jacqueline Fernandez receives a special token from a young fan
• Konkona Sensharma's date with the queer community
• Telly tattle: Faisal Khan takes up gymnastics; Kinshuk Vaidya's next based on Sairaat
• Mira Rajput with Shahid Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty with family clicked in Bandra
• Juhu spotted: Sunny Leone and Daniel Weber's outing with twins and Nisha is too cute
• Katrina Kaif's candid photos: Transformation from Boom to Bharat
• mid-day exclusive: Ajinkya Rahane to watch IND vs SA from his hotel balcony
• World Cup 2019: A hat-trick of opener hundreds beckons Virat Kohli
• World Cup 2019: German footballer Thomas Mueller roots for Virat Kohli

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies