Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who will celebrate her 68th birthday on February 24, has presented the people with a surprise gift: senior citizens in the State could travel free on Government buses from February 24.
The Chief Minister announced the scheme on Thursday while addressing the Assembly. “Senior citizens in Tamil Nadu could travel for free in Government buses from February 24. This scheme is being implemented on a pilot basis in Chennai and will be expanded all over the State depending on the initial response,” said Jayalalithaa.
To begin with, the Government will soon announce the names of the Transport Department depots from where people above 60 years could collect the free tokens. Each senior citizen is eligible for ten tokens every month. “There is no deadline for applications and the commuters could make use of this facility as and when they travel,” said Jayalalithaa.
She said the details of bus depots from where the tokens for senior citizens could be collected would be put up on the website of the Transport Department soon. This is the second freebee offered by Jayalalithaa to senior citizens in the last two months. In January, she had announced a highly subsidised yearly medical screening facility for all senior citizens.