The house committee looking into alleged irregularities in the purchase of bicycles for distribution among government school students has recommended the setting up of a committee headed by the chief secretary to oversee the free bicycle distribution. It has also recommended that the whole tender process be more stringent. Legislative council chairman DH Shankaramurthy on Thursday tabled the 162-page report submitted by BJP MLC Thontadarya, who headed the house committee.
The committee has said that the state government’s transactions in this regard so far have been above board.
The committee has opposed the proposal to distribute cash to students for the purchase of bicycles. The committee, which visited Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to study similar schemes in other states, said that the Karnataka scheme was a sound one, and the practice should be continued.
Former MLC Ugrappa on December 12, 2009 alleged that the state government had been purchasing bicycles by paying more than the market price. He alleged that there was misappropriation of at least Rs20 crore in the scheme.
