The Hindu

• 180 free bicycles distributed among students of a school in city
• Contractor blamed for doing a shoddy work
• Manufacturer to be asked to replace defective parts

Mangalore, Feb 23: Some students, who came to a high school at Gurupura-Kaikamba here to receive free bicycles, which were distributed by the Government on Sunday, might not have guessed that some bicycles were only worth “carrying on shoulders” and not “worth pedalling”.

Some students and teachers told presspersons that many bicycles were of poor quality.

The eighth standard students of Rosa Mystica High School came to the school to receive the bicycles during the janaspandana, which had been organised there.

The Department of Public Instruction distributed 180 bicycles to as many eighth standard students of the school. Of them, 92 were girls and the rest boys. Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada J. Krishna Palemar was present. One of the recipients showed that the chain of his bicycle (number NA 313365) was cut. Another student said the brakes of his bicycle (number 23 A 028596) were not functioning. If some bicycles did not have stands, the mud guard of some others were bent. The locks of some bicycles were not functioning while some complained that one of the two pedals was missing in their bicycles. Some exhibited the flat tyres of their bicycles.

According to a parent of a student of the school, the bicycles distributed among the students of a government high school at Malali a few days ago had similar drawbacks. A teacher of the school, on the condition of anonymity, said: “Our students filled air to the tubes of 160 bicycles on Saturday. The contractor who had been asked to assemble the bicycles did not do it.” He said that the agency, which had been directed to assemble the bicycles in the school’s grounds, had in turn assigned the task to another contractor. The latter did not do the job properly.

When the Minister was asked about the quality of bicycles before the distribution began, he said: “Let the authorities of the school get such bicycles repaired.”

Later, while addressing the gathering, Mr. Palemar asked the recipients of defective bicycles to return them to the school’s headmistress. “She will get those bicycles repaired,” he added.

C. Chame Gowda, Deputy Director, Department of Public Instruction, told The Hindu that the bicycles had been assembled six days ago. Samples of defective parts would be sent to the joint director of the department, who would send them to the Ludhiana-based manufacturer for replacement. An inspection team of two experts from the department and an official of the Department of Small Scale Industries would check the quality of bicycles. “I will issue orders to this effect in a few days. The team will certify about their quality,” he said.

Mr. Gowda said that the bicycles were distributed by a Chennai-based company, which had been awarded the contract to distribute bicycles in schools in Mysore region. Some bicycles were distributed at a school at Bajpe recently and the department had not received any complaints about them. The Chennai-based company had distributed those bicycles also, he added.