Erstwhile SDMC’s bicycle scheme still off track; merger added to delay

It will now be distributed to students across all 12 MCD zones after the merger

August 04, 2022 01:12 am | Updated 01:12 am IST - New Delhi

Six months after the erstwhile South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) passed a proposal to distribute 3,000 bicycles to Class IV students at the civic body’s schools, its implementation remains pending.

The erstwhile SDMC’s proposal — which was passed by its Standing Committee in late January

Float tenders again

A senior official at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi — which was formed after the unification of the three erstwhile corporations on May 22 — said that the initial round of floating tenders for the project bore no fruit while the merger also added to the delay.

“We had to float tenders again and a company has now come on board. The order for the bicycles will likely be placed this month while its distribution should start from next month,” said the senior MCD official.

However, he added the distribution of cycles will not be limited to students at schools that were under the SDMC, and will now be distributed among students in schools across all 12 MCD zones.

“The number of bicycles will remain 3,000, that cannot be changed. Since the MCD is now unified, it won’t be right to distribute it to students falling under a specific number of zones,” the official said.

While the project was aimed at “encouraging” students to attend school on a frequent basis by providing them the “means of transport”, consecutive delays have left the scheme — that is to be executed at an estimated cost of ₹90,00,000 — in a limbo.

On April 14, the SDMC’s then Leader of the House Indrajeet Sehrawat (BJP) and a senior SDMC official had confirmed that the distribution of bicycles was yet to take place; another senior SDMC official added that the civic body had received two bids and that the distribution will begin shortly after the process was completed.

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