Ranchi: The chief minister's promise to offer college girls across the state exclusive public transport at subsidised fares is ringing hollow eight-months down the line.

The higher education and transport departments, entrusted with the task to turn Raghubar Das's ambition into reality, are yet to find a suitable agency willing to run a bus service - for starters, to and from colleges under Ranchi University - on kilometre basis.

Education mandarins are now mulling purchase of a dedicated fleet or if worse comes to worst, they may hire buses on monthly rent.

Secretary of higher and technical education Ajoy Kumar Singh told this newspaper that they were serious about offering girl students easy access to transport.

"After the CM made his promise in March, the transport department floated a tender in October to run college buses on kilometre basis. But, no bidder responded. Now, we are planning to either purchase buses for colleges or hire them on monthly rent basis," Singh confirmed.

Asked when one of these two plans might materialise, the higher education secretary said a meeting would decide the same. "A meeting will be convened with the development commissioner to take a final decision on the matter," Singh said, adding that he hoped the deliberations would take place as early as next week.

Chief minister Das, while laying the foundation stone of a government engineering college in Koderma on March 13, had said that all women's colleges in the state and those with substantial number of girl students would be provided bus services at nominal rate.

The open objective? To promote higher education among the fair sex.

According to government records, the gross enrolment ratio of women in higher education in Jharkhand is a dismal 8.1 per cent against a national average of 19.4 per cent.

It is widely perceived that many young women, mostly those hailing from the rural hinterland, are unable to attend college and university owing to poor transport facilities and hence, campus accessibility issues. The promised bus services were expected to fill in this glaring gap.

But, the inordinate delay is compelling a section of students to see the chief minister's promise as another game of bluff of a state infamous for botched projects.

"You should look before you leap. Why does the government always promise something without doing its homework. We, women, are tired of waiting for the buses. Such a sham!" said Dipti Ekka, a postgraduate student of Ranchi University.