The Haryana government Friday launched a new scheme for providing bicycles to college-going girls from the Schedule Castes (SC) families.

Announcing the scheme, state education minister Mange Ram Gupta said here that under the scheme nearly 4,300 girls from the SC category have already been identified.

'We will provide them bicycles free of cost so that they can reach their respective colleges in time. I will myself distribute 126 cycles to girls at a function Saturday at Jind,' Gupta said.

The bicycles will be distributed within this financial year before the end of March 2008. A total of Rs.7.5 million has been earmarked for this scheme, the minister said.

'Girl students, who secure 50 percent or more marks in their 10+2 exams would be eligible for getting bicycles,' he added.

Gupta said that girls from this category would also get a complete set of textbooks, and a sum of Rs.20 million has been earmarked for this purpose. Textbooks worth Rs.19.5 million have already been distributed among some 9,000 girls so far.

The government has also set up women cells in all government colleges across the state to help girl students with their problems and make them conscious about gender issues. A sum of Rs.4.5 million has been sanctioned for these cells, Gupta added.

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