DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Haryana Government led by Chief Minister Sh. Manohar Lal has consistently introduced new schemes to benefit the Antyodaya families, in line with the Antyodaya philosophy. As part of this initiative, Chief Minister inaugurated the Haryana Antyodaya Parivar Parivahan Yojana (HAPPY) today. This scheme offers free travel up to 1000 kilometers for one year on Haryana Roadways buses to Antyodaya families.

In a state level program organized in district Panchkula, the Chief Minister launched the HAPPY Scheme by symbolically distributing mobility cards to 6 members of Antyodaya families. On this occasion, Antyodaya families expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Sh Manohar Lal for providing this facility.

Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Sh Gian Chand Gupta, Panchkula Mayor Sh. Kulbhushan Goyal, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Sh. V Umashankar, Chief Information Commissioner Sh. Vijai Vardhan, Principal Secretary of Transport Department Sh. Navdeep Singh Virk, Panchkula Deputy Commissioner Sh Sushil Sarwan, Chief Minister's Political Advisor Sh Bharat Bhushan Bharti, Media Secretary Sh Praveen Attrey and a large number of citizens were present on this occasion.

It may be mentioned here that Chief Minister Sh. Manohar Lal, who also holds the portfolio of Finance Minister, in Budget Speech announced the Haryana Antyodaya Parivar Parivahan Yojana (HAPPY) scheme to benefit poor families to avail free travel, up to 1000 kilometres every year in Haryana Roadways Buses. Under this Yojana, the benefit of free travel will be available to 22.89 lakh families with around 84 lakh persons having annual income upto Rs one lakh. The beneficiaries would be issued a smart card linked to the e-ticketing system to enable free travel in the Haryana Roadways Buses. A sum of around Rs 600 crore is likely to be expended on the implementation of this scheme.

HAPPY is a novel scheme launched by any state in the country, where the poorest of the poor have been extended the benefit of free travel using modern technology. This has been made possible due to e-Ticketing system in Haryana Roadways buses which is based on the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) in open loop. The beneficiaries will be given a personalized HAPPY Card, which is a special version of the NCMC Card to enable them to travel for free. This will also enable the Government to ensure the accuracy of the delivery of benefits and prevent leakages.

The initial cost of implementation of HAPPY has been estimated as about Rs 600 Crores, that includes the first-year costs. Further there will be an annual subsidization to the beneficiaries of about Rs 500 Crores every year thereafter under the yojana.
(editor@dailyworld.in)