Bengaluru: Shivakumar seeks women entrepreneurs’ support for tunnel plan

D K Shivakumar sought women entrepreneurs’ support for Bengaluru’s proposed tunnel project at an entrepreneurship event in the city on Wednesday, saying the project was needed to ease traffic congestion.

Speaking at the fifth Together We Grow–International Women Entrepreneurship Day, organised by the Ubuntu Consortium of Women Entrepreneurs Association, Karnataka’s deputy chief minister said Bengaluru had 1.4 crore vehicles. He said the government was spending Rs 1.5 lakh crore on infrastructure to strengthen the city’s transport system.

Shivakumar described opposition to the tunnel proposal as politically motivated. He urged women to take leadership roles from gram panchayats to Parliament.

He said state schemes including Shakti, which provides free travel for women on government buses, and Gruha Lakshmi, under which he said 1.22 crore women receive Rs 2,000 each, were intended to support women’s self-reliance. He also cited four per cent interest loans, subsidies and the Stree Shakti scheme as support for women entrepreneurs.