Delhi government set to distribute free cycles to Class 9 girls from July-end

3 min readNew DelhiJul 15, 2026 03:15 AM IST

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, with Education Minister Ashish Sood, unveils the official Mascot of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship 2026, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Praveen Khanna)

In some good news for Class IX girl students studying in Delhi government schools, the BJP government is set to launch its free bicycle scheme and begin distributing cycles to around 1.3 lakh students by the end of July, The Indian Express has learnt.

The ‘free bicycle scheme’ for Class IX girl students of government schools was one of the major announcements made by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta in the Delhi Budget presented for 2026-27.

According to officials, the procurement process for the bicycles has already begun, and batches of cycles have started arriving. “Batches of cycles have already started coming and distribution to Class IX girl students will begin by the end of this month. It will start from schools located in CM Gupta’s Shalimar Bagh constituency and will subsequently be extended to all other constituencies,” said an official.

After implementation of the scheme, students entering class IX can avail it’s benefits every academic year, said an official.

“The procurement process for the bicycles was started around two months ago with the beginning of the new academic year, and the government’s plan was to distribute them after the summer vacation. Now, as schools have reopened after the holidays, the work to distribute cycles has started. The CM has given directions to prepare a list of schools and students. Work on organising an event for launching the scheme is also underway. A formal date for the launch of the scheme will soon be announced,” said a senior official.

The government has allocated a budget of Rs 90 crore for the free bicycle scheme.

While announcing the scheme during the presentation of the Delhi Budget this year in March, Gupta had said, “Many girl students drop out of school because of lack of connectivity. We want our girl students to study and become independent. So, to empower them, we have decided to provide free bicycles to girl students of Class IX of Delhi Government schools. Through this scheme, our girls will not have to depend on others to drop and pick them up from school. They will have their own vehicle soon.”

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She had also said that transportation often poses a significant problem for Delhi’s girls studying in government schools, which often leads to dropouts.

“Now, our girls won’t be left stranded or have to depend on others because this government is giving them wings. They will have their own vehicles to travel to schools,” the CM had said.

“With the distribution of bicycles, the government will also upgrade road infrastructure for the safety of students using bicycles,” said an official.

Officials said that, through this initiative, the government will also create awareness among students about the benefits of using cycles and how it will help curb pollution in Delhi.

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“Free cycles are also a major part of the government’s push for clean air, clean mobility, and steps being taken to address air pollution,” the official added.

Currently, similar schemes are being implemented in states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and others.

Earlier in April, CM Gupta had distributed cycles to 1,000 girls of government schools in Shalimar Bagh through a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative.