Gandhinagar, July 21 (IANS) The Gujarat government on Tuesday expanded its transport network for students from remote tribal areas by launching 139 new buses under the ‘Bhagwan Birsa Munda Janjatiya Gaurav Parivahan Seva’, a move aimed at improving access to schools and colleges for more than 4,100 additional students.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi flagged off the buses in Gandhinagar.
The buses have been deployed in tribal regions through a joint initiative of the Tribal Development Department and the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) at a cost of Rs 33.84 crore.
The latest rollout forms part of the state government’s larger plan to deploy 250 buses under the scheme with an allocation of Rs 72 crore.
The initiative is intended to provide safe and reliable transport for children and young people living in remote, inaccessible and hilly tribal areas who travel long distances to attend schools and colleges.
According to the state government, the scheme is expected to support higher education by making educational institutions more accessible and to encourage girls’ education by providing regular and secure transport.
It is also expected to improve attendance while helping reduce school and college dropout rates. The government said all buses operating under the scheme are equipped with GPS to allow real-time monitoring.
A dedicated web portal will record daily information, including the names of students using the service, bus pass numbers, routes, schools and villages, allowing authorities to monitor operations and student travel.
The buses will transport students between their homes and educational institutions during school and college hours. Outside these hours, they will be operated for the general public in tribal areas under a revenue model.
The programme builds on the first phase of the scheme launched on November 15 last year, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off 111 buses from Dediapada in Narmada district on the 150th birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Munda.
Those buses have since been serving students across Gujarat’s tribal districts.
The state government said around 5,700 students are using the first batch of 111 buses during the 2026-27 academic year.
“The transport initiative had been introduced to provide convenient transportation facilities for tribal children and youth living in remote, inaccessible, and hilly regions, helping them to commute easily to schools and colleges located far from their places of residence,” officials added.
It added that the expanded service would provide “timely and safe transportation from their homes to schools and back” while helping improve educational access in tribal areas.
The flag-off ceremony was attended by Tribal Development Minister Naresh Patel; Minister of State for Transport, Pravin Mali; Ministers of State, P. C. Baranda, Jayram Gamit and Ramesh Katara; legislators from tribal constituencies, Chief Secretary M. K. Das, senior government officials and departmental secretaries.
–IANS
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