In Lalu Yadav's own constituency, no takers for his buses as Nitish Kumar's free bicycles rule

Patna: Free buses provided by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav from his MP funds for schools and colleges have found few takers in his Chhapra constituency in Bihar's Saran district, with students preferring to pedal to school on bicycles provided by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

During a meeting of school and college principals called by Saran District Magistrate Kundan Kumar last week, only four out of 50 of them agreed to take the buses.

Stating that earlier, 16 principals had agreed to take the buses, District Magistrate Kundan Kumar told PTI, "As of now, consent for only 20 buses have been received for the 70 provided by Mr Yadav."

Secretary of Secondary schools teachers Association Rajaji Rajesh, who participated in the meeting, said that majority of principals pointed out that since the free cycle scheme of Mr Kumar was running successfully in the constituency, there was no need for buses which would incur operational costs.

Mr Rajesh said that the principals cited the opinion of parents and stated that nobody was interested in paying for maintenance of the buses. Besides, there was also a parking problem for buses and their security in schools, he said.

Seeking to make a dent in the free cycle scheme, Mr Yadav had in March this year announced free buses to schools and colleges to ferry students. By April, 70 buses, bought for Rs 8.18 crore, arrived in Chhapra.

Mr Rajesh said RJD workers had impressed on Mr Yadav to provide buses without consulting the school authorities.

The DM said that he has written to the former chief minister to seek his permission to give the buses to other institutions or send them to a neighbouring district. "Further action will be taken after a response from Mr Prasad," he said.