Chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed satisfaction over the success of Sabuj Sathi project that has won global recognition.
She distributed cycles to the students of Class IX of state-run schools at a distribution programme in East Burdwan.
Around 12.50 lakh students will get cycles under the project this year.
In her X-handle Miss Banerjee wrote: “More than 50,000 cycles will be distributed today across the state at an estimated cost of Rs 525 crore. The project started in 2015-16 and the state government so far spent Rs 4,730 crore on the distribution of cycles to school children.”
A senior state government official said so far 1.38 crore cycles have been distributed under the project.
Miss Banerjee said the project has earned global recognition and it has helped the students immensely. The students come to their school riding cycles and do not have to depend on public transport. She said there has been a major contribution of the scheme behind the significant fall in the number of school dropouts. The cycles are eco-friendly and help the students to stay fit.
It may be recalled that the then state finance minister Amit Mitra announced the scheme in 2015 during his Budget speech in the Assembly. The first distribution of bicycles took place in October 2015 in Gopiballavpur then in West Midnapore and now in Jhargram district.
Three manufacturers, namely, Avon, Hero and Hercules supplied the cycles which were assembled in Bengal and distributed to the students.