West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced that the state government will distribute bicycles to 12.59 lakh students during the current academic year and renamed the previous ‘Sabuj Sathi’ scheme as ‘Sarathi’. He also announced ₹300 crore allocation and said the government would not provide money for smartphones and tablets.

Kolkata: Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday announced that his government will distribute bicycles to 12.59 lakh students during the current academic year and renamed Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s ‘Sabuj Sathi’ scheme to ‘Sarathi’.

Bicycle distribution scheme

Addressing a cycle distribution event at a school in Howrah, Adhikari mentioned that the cycles that were given by the previous government were ‘substandard’.

“Many people said that since the state government had given responsibility to ISKCON for the mid-day meal, the students will not get non-vegetarian food. Through SHG, we have also started giving boiled eggs to students twice a week. Rs 300 crore has been allocated as a composite grant for the Sarathi scheme,” said Adhikari.