Gandhinagar: The BJP and Congress clashed in the Gujarat Assembly on Thursday after the state government revealed that nearly 1.45 lakh bicycles meant for girl students remained undistributed over the past two years.

State Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi, responding to questions on the Saraswati Sadhana Yojana, informed the House that as of December 2024, the bicycles for 2023 and 2024 had not been fully distributed. The Social Justice and Empowerment Department confirmed in a written reply that no bicycles were distributed between January 2023 and January 2024, and only 8,494 were handed out between January 2024 and January 2025.

Under the scheme, bicycles are provided to girls from Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes upon their admission to Class 9 in government secondary schools. Sanghavi stated that the government had distributed over 7.93 lakh bicycles in the last five years but admitted that many units had rusted due to prolonged exposure to rain.

Congress Legislative Party leader Amit Chavda alleged corruption in procurement, claiming that tender norms were altered to benefit specific companies, leading to the purchase of substandard bicycles. He also alleged that officials of GRIMCO, the agency responsible for procurement, had warned that vendors were overcharging ₹500 per unit. However, despite this, the purchase proceeded. Later, a third-party inspection found the bicycles to be substandard, and since they were not accepted for distribution, they rusted in the open.

In response, Sanghavi said the delay was also due to a thorough technical and physical inspection of the bicycles. He assured the House that from the upcoming academic year, there would be no further delays in distribution. DeshGujarat