Andhra Pradesh Congress president Y.S. Sharmila came into the headlines today as she traveled on an RTC bus from Vijayawada to Tenali. She boarded the bus at Pandit Nehru Bus Station and started questioning fellow travelers about their daily problems and experiences. It went up to a surprise level when it was discovered that Sharmila was among them; soon, passengers began airing their problems and issues of concern in social media, as an unusual journey turned into a social sensation.
In fact, whenever she traveled on the Vijayawada-Tenali route, Sharmila saw to it that women passengers sat beside her, and she continued to have more conversation with them in this regard regarding the unfulfilled promise of offering free rides on buses. Most of the passengers were waiting for the government to launch its promised service. This led Sharmila to urge them to fight hard for their rights. “They must force the government to implement its promise of free transport facility for all,” she asserted.
The activist was speaking at a press conference she attended yesterday to criticize Chandrababu Naidu for not implementing the “Super Six” promises made by him in the election season, criticizing him for delaying progress under the façade of policy changes. Today, she took her campaign to the next level of efforts by directly approaching women travelers and asking them to demand the free RTC bus travel promised. Her actions indicate a determined effort to continue the campaign until the government takes decisive action.
Sharmila repeats her complaints over the lack of progress over free bus. “It has been four months since Chandrababu Naidu became Chief Minister. Still, there is no such result,” she said. “I have been listening on the bus to women asking when the free bus can be seen. Women ask when Congress-led governments in Telangana and Karnataka took power and made free buses schemes in those States,” she pointed out.
Sharmila claimed that there were an estimated 20 lakh women dependent on RTC bus services and this would be something the government would have to pay around 300 crores for every month. She questioned the commitment of the government by saying that surely there was nothing more that they intended to do for women from Andhra Pradesh.
This influential interaction with the passengers on the bus, full of emotion, threw up burning issues of the state concerning women and portrayed her struggle for their rights. The tireless endeavors of Sharmila continue and, as she continues speaking, it speaks through many that accountability and action from the government is paramount.
