CM cycles pop up on website - Resale on one side, demand on other

Avijit Sinha, TT, Jan. 28: Some cycles given out to schoolchildren under the chief minister's pet Sabuj Sathi scheme have popped up on a consumer goods resale website, prompting questions on the justification of giving cycles to all students from Classes IX to XII.

Correspondents of The Telegraph, posing as prospective buyers, spoke to students who had posted the resale ads on OLX over phone - the phone numbers were mentioned in the ad.

The receivers of the calls, who mostly identified themselves as student beneficiaries of Sabuj Sathi, gave various reasons for wanting to sell the cycles that the government had given them for free. Some said they already had cycles, another said his brother did not know how to cycle. The names and phone numbers of the students are not mentioned as they are minors.

According to the state government's plan, it is set to give 40 lakh bicycles to students of Class IX-XII by 2016-17. The state has plans to distribute 25 lakh bicycles by the end of this financial year. Sources said that little over 17 lakh bicycles have been distributed so far.

The state government is set to spend Rs 700 crore for the entire scheme. Officials said about Rs 400 crore has been released by the finance department so far.

Moidul Islam, a political scientist from Presidency University, said the incidents hinted at a lack of clarity on the state government's part on the heavily subsidised scheme.

"There should be a target group for any kind of scheme that requires huge subsidy.... It appears that a section of the students who are getting the subsidy or the commodity does not actually require it," Islam said.

A section of the government officials also echoed the view and said that a cash-strapped state such as Bengal cannot afford to take up a universal subsidy scheme, where everybody would enjoy the subsidy.

"Ideally, the state government should have given bicycles to those who actually needed it. But for this, a proper survey was required.... Everything in Bengal is happening in a hurry without verifying the actual requirement. Such activities put additional burden on the state coffers," said a senior government official.

Correspondents of The Telegraph spoke to several prospective sellers who had posted pictures of their bicycles on OLX, a consumer goods resale website. Several of the students who took the calls made to the posted phone numbers said the blue cycles they wanted to sell were given to them under the Sabuj Sathi scheme. Here are excerpts from conversations with the correspondents who posed as buyers:

In Siliguri, a government official remarked that on the one hand, students in the north Bengal town have blocked roads demanding they be given cycles yesterday, and on the other, many are selling the cycles they got for free.

Today, too, around 100-odd students from five schools broke the gate of a godown in Bagracote, on the outskirts of the town, where the cycles were being assembled for distribution. They kept shouting: "We want the cycles."

A police team brought the situation under control. The agitating students were told that the cycles will not be distributed in phases but in one go. They then left the godown.

A government official who is involved in the cycle distribution said: "It is saddening that on the one hand, students put up roadblocks and protested demanding the bicycles, while on the other, some are putting ads on websites and want to sell those bicycles. I believe this aspect was not thought about by the district administrations or the state," he said.

A headmaster of a school in North Dinajpur and an assistant headmaster in Jalpaiguri district also clarified that they had no instruction from the administration or from the district inspector of schools to take any step against a student if he or she sells the cycle provided under the Sabuj Sathi scheme.

"No undertaking is taken from them (the students) that could bar them from selling their cycles," the headmaster said. The Jalpaiguri assistant headmaster echoed him.

A government official said they were surprised that school students were holding protests every day.

"Those who are in Classes X and XII and have their board exams ahead are participating in demonstrations for several hours, instead of focusing on their studies. In some cases, we have seen even some of the guardians joining them, instead of reprimanding them," he said.

With inputs from Bireswar Banerjee, Main Uddin Chisti and our Raiganj Correspondent