Spotlight
oi-Oneindia Staff
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday put the Delhi government’s bicycle purchase under scrutiny by placing a bicycle distributed to schoolgirls alongside an identical bicycle bought at retail, highlighting a stark price difference. Senior AAP leader and Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj said the party bought the bicycle for ₹4,200, while the BJP government purchased 1.30 lakh bicycles at ₹6,957 each, despite the government-supplied bicycles carrying cheaper, local components.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) questioned the Delhi government’s ₹6,957 per bicycle procurement for 1.30 lakh units, highlighting a ₹4,200 retail purchase and citing cheaper components and a fake ‘Skyler’ sticker on government-supplied bikes.
The AAP Delhi State President further showcased that the government-distributed bicycle bears a fake ‘Skyler’ sticker even though the company discontinued the model a year ago. He said AAP would take both bicycles to the Chief Minister and Education Minister and ask them to explain which one is genuine and why the government paid nearly ₹2,800 more per bicycle.
Displaying the two bicycles while addressing a press conference, AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “You can see two bicycles here. One is the bhagwa-coloured bicycle that the BJP government has distributed to poor girls in Delhi. It has ‘Skyler’ written on it. This is a fake Skyler. This saffron-coloured bicycle was purchased by them through a tender for ₹6,957, roughly ₹7,000 per bicycle, and they bought 1.30 lakh bicycles in bulk. The red bicycle here is one that we purchased at retail. I have a receipt in my name. The bicycle cost ₹4,000, with ₹200 in tax, making it ₹4,200. We got one bicycle for ₹4,200, while the BJP government bought one for ₹6,957, and bought 1.30 lakh of them.”
Comparing the two bicycles, the AAP Delhi Unit Chief continued, “They are exactly the same, but there is one difference. The difference is the intent behind them. Since it’s an MTB, a Mountain Terrain Bike, as specified by the government in the tender. The tyre on the red bicycle we purchased has wide, sturdy tyres. They are branded Metro tyres. The saffron bicycle that the BJP government extended and looted has local, cheaper tyres and a cheaper rim. The tyre on the bicycle we purchased costs ₹350 to ₹500, while the tyre on the bicycle sold by the BJP costs ₹150.”
Pointing to the brakes, he added, “The brake levers on the bicycle we purchased are made of aluminium. On the government one’s, they are made of plastic.”
Targeting Ashish Sood’s department over the tender, Saurabh Bharadwaj asserted, “This is the state of the Education Department under Minister Ashish Sood. I have been saying from the first day that Ashish Sood has an opportunity to put the blame on some officer and say, ‘These officers are thieves, we are not thieves.’ Put the blame on an officer and hang him. But Ashish Sood is simply not accepting it. He is stuck on the GeM issue.”
“He keeps saying, ‘It was done through GeM (Government e-Marketplace), we did it through GeM.’ But GeM did not tell your department to steal. The tender you floated through GeM required you to provide a Hero Skyler bicycle, which costs around ₹7,000. When the Opposition has already brought and shown you a bicycle costing ₹4,000, you are still sitting there with your eyes closed and saying, ‘No, no, we did everything correctly,”‘ he added.
Calling for a direct comparison, he stated, “We now want to tell Ashish Sood that he should meet us. We will take both these bicycles to minister Ashish Sood and CM Rekha Gupta, let them see them with their own eyes and then tell the public and the media which bicycle is genuine and which is fake. I will also share the receipt on WhatsApp and on my Twitter. We will share the receipt showing the ₹200 tax as well.”
The former Delhi minister revealed, “If you search for the genuine Skyler online or call Hero Cycles, they will tell you that the genuine Skyler model was discontinued a year ago. You will not find a Skyler anywhere in Delhi. You will not even find it in Jhandewalan’s wholesale market because Hero Cycles has discontinued the Skyler model. The trademark for this model has also expired. Go to the trademark website and check it. The Skyler trademark itself has expired. So where did they get this Skyler from?”
Explaining the difference between the genuine model and the bicycle supplied by the government, the AAP Delhi Chief asserted, “The genuine Skyler bicycle they were supposed to purchase for around ₹7,000 has seven gears, suspension and disc brakes. The bicycle they have supplied under the name Skyler has none of these. It has no gears, no disc brakes and no suspension. They have simply put a fake Skyler sticker on it.”
Meanwhile, AAP MLA and Chief Whip in Delhi Assembly Sanjeev Jha stated, “There was a bidder from Ludhiana, SK Bikes. SK Bikes wrote that it could not bid, but it could supply this bicycle for ₹4,100. Then, when we raised this issue yesterday or the day before, I unofficially received a call from someone from Hero who said, ‘I can supply the bicycle that the government purchased for ₹3,200.’ This looks like clear-cut corruption to me. I do not understand why Delhi CM Rekha Gupta is protecting her minister and why she is not taking action against him.”
Sanjeev Jha further said, “We demanded a discussion on this issue both outside the House and inside the House. If there was nothing wrong, they would have allowed the discussion. They would have allowed all these facts to come on record, and then the minister could have answered. Despite all our demonstrations, if they are not allowing a discussion, or if the minister is not participating in the discussion, it means he knows that if there is a discussion, all the secrets will come out.”
Calling for action, he added, “I hope CM Rekha Gupta takes action. Otherwise, all of us will now file a complaint with the ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau) as well as the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). We will not allow Delhi’s children to be looted through their bicycles. We hope that when we file the complaint, the Anti-Corruption Bureau will properly investigate it and take action.”
Mechanic Highlights Differences Between AAP-Purchased and Delhi Government-Distributed Bicycles
A mechanic examining the two bicycles shared that the red bicycle purchased by the AAP had aluminium brake levers and Metro-branded tyres, while the ‘bhagwa’ bicycle distributed by the Delhi Government had plastic levers and local tyres. He also pointed out that the tyre on the AAP-purchased bicycle cost around ₹350, compared with ₹150 for the government-distributed bicycle, while the latter had a lighter rim and a lighter crank.
The mechanic further revealed that the Delhi Government-distributed bicycles regularly come to his shop for repairs, with issues including loose components. He said the bicycles sometimes arrive with one part loose, another part malfunctioning, or in a generally loose condition.
