PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday launched one of the most ambitious schemes of his government — the Mukhyamantri Kanya Utthan Yojana (MKUY)- at a programme held at the Adhiveshan Bhawan here.

Over 3.12 lakh girls will be covered under the scheme in the current financial year. Each girl can get monetary assistance upto Rs 54,100 under different components of the scheme.

The scheme, which will cover a girl child's life from her birth to clearing graduation, would be jointly implemented by the departments of social welfare, health and education.

Addressing the event after formally launching the scheme, CM asked the ministers and the principal secretaries of the three implementing departments (who were sitting on the dais) to ensure that beneficiaries get the benefits under the programme without any difficulty.

He asked the officers especially the state’s chief secretary Deepak Kumar (on the dais) to link the MKUY with the Right to Public Services (RTPS) Act so that people can easily avail benefits after birth of a daughter within a stipulated period. He asked the chief secretary to discuss with the implementing departments how to link the scheme under the RTPS Act.

CM also announced a hike of Rs 500 per cycle under the Mukhyamantri Cycle Scheme. “When we launched the cycle scheme for school girls and boys, we paid Rs 2,000 to each student for purchasing a cycle of their choice. Later, this amount was increased to Rs 2,500 per student. Now, Rs 3,000 would be paid to each eligible student for purchasing a cycle,” the CM said.

Nitish Kumar also said the hiked amount of Rs 3,000 per cycle would be given from the current financial year as the money for the cycle was distributed in the month of November each year.

Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said an estimated amount of Rs 2,221 crore would be spent in the current financial year in implementation of the MKUY.

