As many as 4.35 lakh students from government and aided schools are expected to receive bicycles. Of these, 2.21 lakh are girls and 2.14 lakh boys. Students from BPL families are entitled to the facility.

After inviting tenders, the department placed the proposal before the government in August. However, the government took nearly three months to clear the proposal. It issued an order on November 15, 2007 and placed orders for cycles on November 28, 2007.

“Over 50 per cent of cycles have been despatched from the factory and assembling work is on at taluk and district level. As and when the assembling work is completed, it will be distributed to schools. Students should get the bicycles by early February,” an education department official said.

The distribution work has been entrusted to four companies: Hero Cycles Limited, Ludhiana; Atlas Cycles, Haryana; Avon Cycles, Ludhiana and TI Cycles of India, Chennai.

Penalty
An official assured students will get bicycles by February as companies will be penalised if there is any delay.
Officials admitted a delay in the distribution of cycles this year.

T M Vijay Bhaskar , secretary, Primary and Secondary Education Department, said physical education teachers will teach students to ride cycles.

He also said the cycles distributed by the department will have a logo and a number so that it cannot be transferred.

Crash test
Other measures such as a crash test, where cycle samples from 33 educational district will be sent to the research and development centre in Ludhiana to “ensure quality”. Meanwhile, a few schools said they have not received any communication from the department.