Nearly 500 students of three government schools received bicycles at BA-CA ground as part of the government’s Sabuj Sathi initiative recently. 

Sabuj Sathi gifts cycles to government school students once they reach Class IX. This year there had been a delay and the students were already in Class X by the time they got the bikes. But no one was complaining as last year the students apparently got the cycles after their Board exams! 

The cycles were distributed in the presence of MLA Sujit Bose and Rajesh Chirimar, the mayor-in-council, mass education, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation. “Today we are distributing around 490 bicycles among students who were in Class IX in the academic year 2015-2016,” said Chirimar. “We are waiting till adequate cycles arrive in our stock and are then distributing them. We wanted to hold this ceremony a month back but had to wait as their exams were going on.”

Class X students had come from Acharya Prafulla Chandra High School (APCHS) in BK Block, Labanhrad Vidyapith (LV) in AD Block and Sukantanagar Vidyani-ketan on the fringes of Salt Lake. They were all excited with the gift.

“It usually takes me 10 minutes to reach school by bus but from now on I’ll ride my cycle,” smiled Abhijit Pradhan, an APCHS student who lives in CG Block. Sworaj Mondol of the Sukantanagar school said the cycle would save him time and money. “I won’t have to travel by bus anymore. I’ll cycle whenever I go out,” he said. In fact, he wanted to paddle home right then but the bike’s tyres were not adequately pumped.

There were also some who already had a bike at home. “This will be my second cycle. I’ll be using this new one now and maybe give the old cycle to someone else,” said Arpan Mondol, of APCHS. Adwaita Bhattacharya of LV wasn’t as benevolent. “I will be keeping both my cycles,” he grinned. 

Dibyendu Bakshi, the principal of Labanhrad Vidyapith, said this year the cycles reached the students faster. “Last year students got the cycles in March after they sat for their Board exams. This time they got them in November. Classes have given off now but at least students can cycle to tuitions,” he said. 

In APC school, students of Class IX were hoping to get their cycles soon. “It would have helped me come to school had I got the bike at the beginning of Class IX,” said Argha Bhattacharya. 

Archi Sen, a Class XI student of LV, had missed out on the cycle gift in secondary school. “Last year I was in a different school and we hadn’t got cycles there. I hope I get one soon,” said the Lake Town resident.

The Sabuj Sathi scheme has lead to an increase in the number of cycles on campus but school authorities said they were not facing a parking space crunch. “We have sufficient space. At present the cycles can be parked in the grounds or in the building. We are trying to build a cycle stand for better security,” said Mukul Ranjan Sahu, principal of APCHS.