One of the sops that made Naveen Patnaik Government popular in the State is bicycle for girl students. The idea was borrowed from the Nitish Kumar Government in Bihar.
leading RTI activist and convenor of the Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhiyan Pradeep Pradhan has found out that the bicycle scheme had cost the exchequer over Rs 68 crore in 2011-12 and Rs 108 crore in 2012-13. For the year 2013-14, the budget for cycles is Rs 123 crore.
In a Press release, Pradhan said the bicycle scheme, inaugurated by the Chief Minister on October 28, 2011 in Gajapati district, was introduced in the year 2011-12. Under the scheme an amount of Rs 2,600 was provided to each girl student and SC/ST boy student reading in class-X in Government and aided high schools across 118 TSP blocks in 2011-12. As many as 2,61,975 beneficiaries were covered under the scheme in 2011-12 at a total cost of Rs 68,11,35,000.
In 2012-13, all girl students, all SC, ST and BPl category boy students reading in Class –X in Government, non-Government, aided high schools, Sanskrit tools and madrasas in the State, numbering 4,15,619 were beneficiaries of the scheme. This cost the Government Rs 108,06,09,400.
For the year 2013-14, the Government has earmarked Rs 122,99,92,400 to provide bicycles to 4,73,074 students. The State Government claims the enrolment rate at the secondary level has increased and the dropout rate has fallen sharply due to implementation of the bicycle scheme. The scheme will be continued for the next 5 years until the next general elections, Pradhan said in his release.