New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) To make the free travel facility for women smarter and more modern, the DTC has been issuing ‘Pink Saheli NCMC Smart Cards’ free of cost since March 2, and the number of beneficiaries has crossed 8.40 lakh, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Tuesday.

Launched under the ‘One Nation, One Card’ initiative, this ‘Zero-KYC’ card is being issued rapidly following linkage with a mobile number and Aadhaar verification, said Chief Minister Gupta.

Currently, the cards are being distributed through 73 centres, including 36 DTC Pass Sections, 17 District Magistrate and Sub-Divisional Magistrate offices, and 20 special camps. Additional distribution points are also being set up in various areas as required, the statement said.

In the future, this card, once topped up, will be usable not only on DTC buses but also on the Delhi Metro, the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), and other public transport networks, it said.

As of May 18, a total of 840,618 ‘Pink Saheli NCMC Smart Cards’ have been issued. Currently, both the pink paper tickets and the pink cards remain valid; however, the free travel facility will soon be accessible exclusively through the Pink Smart Card, it said.

Earlier, the Chief Minister said the Centre, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been working towards building a modern, world-class, and future-ready infrastructure network for the capital.

Speaking after a press briefing by Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari over road and connectivity projects across Delhi-NCR to tackle traffic congestion and pollution, the Chief Minister said that projects worth Rs 1.31 lakh crore had already been sanctioned for the development of the Delhi-NCR region over the past 12 years.

She said Delhi’s traffic situation would have been unimaginable today had the Centre not pushed ahead with the construction of expressways, elevated corridors, tunnels, and signal-free road networks under the Union Minister’s leadership.

–IANS

rch/dan