Many transgender persons in Delhi continue to face difficulties obtaining Saheli cards for free bus travel three months after the scheme began, even though the cards list them as eligible.
The Delhi government launched the Saheli card scheme on March 2 this year. It allows women and transgender persons free travel on city buses using pink cards. The announcement came in March 2025. Visits to five distribution centres showed that officials at four centres refused cards to transgender applicants. At one centre staff issued a blue card instead, which offers no free travel benefit. Vishakha, 23, said officials at the Tughlaqabad office passed her Aadhaar card to five people before denying the pink card despite her transgender identity card. A senior Delhi Transport Corporation official stated that all women and transgender persons are eligible and no one should be denied. However, employees at the ITO counter said they were instructed not to issue cards to transgender persons, claiming the provision was discontinued weeks after rollout. Senior Transport Department officials noted the pink ticket system will be phased out gradually. Some applicants succeeded when their Aadhaar listed gender as female. Supriya obtained a card this way but reported repeated validity checks when tapping it on buses.
