New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Thursday alleged a multi-crore rupee ‘scam’ in the procurement of bicycles by Delhi govt for distribution among govt school girl students.The party claimed that the bicycles distributed to school girls do not match the specification mentioned in the work order issued by the govt and are instead of a cheaper variety.Delhi govt however, said the allegations were “baseless, misleading and a reflection of political frustration.”AAP alleged that the catalogue and photographs available online show that the model distributed to school girls is a different, cheaper model. “If purchased in bulk, it costs around ₹4,000 or even less. Its retail price is around ₹5,000. This bicycle has been supplied to the govt for nearly ₹7,000… It has no gears, no suspension or disc brakes… This is a fraud committed by the Delhi govt,” a senior AAP functionary said, adding that a total of 1.3 lakh bicycles were purchased at ₹6,957 per bicycle.As per the work order, mountain bicycles were supposed to be supplied to the govt for distribution. The total tender cost was around Rs 90 crore.The AAP functionary further alleged that a bicycle worth ₹4,000 had been supplied for ₹7,000, implying a commission of ₹3,000 on every bicycle.“For the past few days, we have been asking the Rekha Gupta govt to reveal the make and model of the bicycle. We even tagged the chief minister on X and asked which model was purchased. But the govt is unwilling to disclose the model because that is where the irregularity lies,” the functionary said.BJP MLA and Delhi govt chief spokesperson Abhay Verma said the bicycles were procured through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal.“For the first time in Delhi’s political history, free bicycles have been provided to Class IX girls studying in govt schools. It is unfortunate that AAP could not even accept the smiles on the faces of the young girls. The bicycles were procured through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal of the govt of India in accordance with the prescribed rules and with complete transparency. In such a situation, allegations of corruption are devoid of facts and are merely an attempt to mislead people for political purposes,” said Verma.
