Coimbatore, Dec 8: Former Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai has strongly condemned the distribution of substandard bicycles to government school students in Coimbatore under the state’s free bicycle scheme. He pointed out that 117 Class 11 students at the Ondipudur Government Higher Secondary School were given cycles that were either improperly assembled or missing certain parts, even though the distribution event was attended by the Coimbatore MP and the district collector.
Annamalai recalled that similar issues had been reported in previous years as well, where students were unable to use the low-quality cycles for long and were forced to repair them at their own expense. In some cases, he said, students even sold the bicycles due to their poor condition. He questioned why, year after year, students in Coimbatore continue to receive defective bicycles and sought clarity on who the contractors supplying them are.
This year alone, around 17,782 students in Coimbatore are supposed to receive bicycles, each reportedly costing about ₹4,300 as per the DMK government. Annamalai said it was unacceptable that basic defects were not addressed despite such expenses. He demanded that all bicycles distributed across Tamil Nadu should undergo strict quality checks and that strict action must be taken against contractors supplying substandard products.