A Student of Birla College, Prakash Gaikwad, used to walk nearly 3 km from his hostel in Shahapur to Asangaon Railway Station to board a bus to Kalyan.
Not anymore. He now pedals to the station and wraps up his otherwise tiring commute in 10 minutes.
"I used to spend Rs 350 to Rs 400 over rickshaw or bus fares per month," said Gaikwad (18), a student of first year microbiology in Birla College. "Now I can save the money as the members of the Vidyadan Sahayak Mandal have given me a bicycle."
The mandal comprising a group of Thane residents was formed in August 15, 2008.
Members foot the education bill of at least one student studying in the remote areas of Thane district. The group recently collected nine second-hand bicycles from Thane, repaired them and gave them to students from Shahapur.
Six bicycles were given to schoolstudents in Kinhavli who walk 6 km daily to reach their schools.
Suhas Chandekar, a member of the organisation, collected seven cycles from his area and gave them to needy students from Thane.
"It all started with vacating our Saket Towers co-operative Housing Society premises of old rusty bicycles," said Chandekar.
"There were about seven abandoned or rusting old bicycles. We put up notices asking their owners to either remove them or clean them," he said.
"We earlier thought of giving them to a scrap dealer. Then I chanced upon an article about a person who collects old bicycles and gives them to the poor and needy. We too, thought of doing the same," he said.
Praveen Padwal, another student, said: "I am a resident of Mallegaon which is 20 km from Shahapur. I got hostel accommodation in Shahapur. But since my college is in Kalyan, I have to travel all the way from Shahapur to Asangaon which means a lot of money for people like us."
"With my new bicycle, I can cover the distance in no time and can save the money too," said Padwal.
Students, who live in the interiors, are asked to drop out of school because their parents feel they can't afford the travel fare.
Satyajit Shah, a member of the organisation, said: "Most students had to walk for 6 km Many of them stay 20 km further in Shahapur. They either have to travel by a bus or an autorickshaw. Their parents feel they can't afford the travel fare and ask them to quit school."
"When we distributed first nine cycles we got 50 more requests. We have now approached people to donate their old bicycles to us," he said
