“If not for the Shakti, the free travel for women in State Road transport corporation buses scheme, we would not have visited a faraway pilgrim centre like Kukke Subrahmanya,” said one of the 15-member women’s team from Bidar district.
Having started their journey from Bidar on June 19, Monday, the team that also had three accompanying men, had already visited Sringeri, Udupi and Dharmasthala before its arrival at Kukke Subrahmanya, the richest temple of Karnataka, on Friday, June 23.
Comprising women of all ages, from 18 to 65, the group had just arrived at Subrahmanya and was keeping its luggage in the cloak room. As it was the lunch time, the group soon rushed to the Anna Prasada section even as the temple would reopen at 3.30 p.m.
Feeling embarrassed on being asked whether they were travelling under the Shakti scheme, a woman among a group of 20 from Gadag district travelling from Subrahmanya to Dharmasthala on a KSRTC bus, answered in the affirmative. The group had left its hometown four days ago and had travelled to Sringeri and Horanadu in Chikkamagaluru district before arriving at Kukke Subrahmanya.
Temple Executive Officer Ningaiah told The Hindu that the footfall had almost tripled, to over 30,000 a day, after the launch of the scheme.
Dharmasthala, another popular pilgrim centre in the State having KSRTC connectivity from across the State, has become almost a travel hub for ‘Shakti’ scheme travellers.
Though it was the second week of June when normally the monsoon would have set in, the crowd resembled that of summer holidays, said D. Veerendra Heggade, the Pattadhikari of Dharmasthala Manjunatha Temple. The number of visitors however is stabilising, he said.
A temple functionary said with the resources at its disposal, the management could manage the situation. While about 15,000-20,000 devotees visited the temple on normal days, the numbers had reached up to 50,000 a day since more than a week, he added.
Local tour
KSRTC officials, managing the Kukke Subrahmanya bus stand, told The Hindu the footfall was less on Friday, June 23, compared to earlier days. There was no space to move inside the bus stand after the scheme was launched on June 11, they said.
Groups of women used to halt overnight at the bus stand, complete their morning chores in the bus stand restrooms and visit nearby temples. They would have food at these temples and return to the bus stand for another overnight stay. Now, that the monsoon has set in, they might not stay in the bus stand because of the rains, the officials said.
Business as usual
Contrary to popular perceptions that vendors around the temples would have witnessed a lucrative business following the increased footfall, it was business as usual, according to shopkeepers.
A woman selling cut fruits and butter milk near Adi Subrahmanya said that the women did not bring much cash except that was to offer at temples. They had food at temples as almost every temple in the coast serve meals to devotees.
Another shopkeeper near the main Subrahmanya temple said women’s groups stop at his shop, have a glance on the articrafts, inquire the price and move on. “We did not have any roaring business,” he quipped.
Since the launch of the scheme on June 11, over 6.57 crore women have availed the free travel facility providing an ‘income’ of over ₹152 crore to the four SRTCs—KSRTC, BMTC, NWKRTC and KKRTC—till Friday, June 23, according to KSRTC.
