SALEM : Chief Educational Officer (CEO) R Balamurali, along with officials of the district administration, visited bicycle shops on Saturday and conducted an inquiry based on Coimbatore Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati’s direction. The direction comes in the backdrop of a news report in TNIE on Friday which said government school students had sold the free bicycles distributed to them as they were of poor quality.
After the inspection, the CEO submitted a report and the collector forwarded it to the Directorate of Backward Classes Welfare.
In the report, Balamurali said students had informed officials that the bicycles given to them are in good condition and their fathers and brothers are also using the bikes. The headmaster of corporation higher secondary school at Selvapuram said they had distributed bicycles to 68 plus two students and 94 plus one students in the 2023-24 academic year which were of good quality and he did not receive any complaint from any student, the report added. It also added that some students are using bicycles bought by their families earlier, and that might be a reason for giving these bikes to others. Students also said they did not sell their bicycles, the report added.
The report also said officials inspected a cycle shop and the owner said students had given their bicycles for minor repair and did not sell the bikes.
It may be noted that TNIE carried the report after speaking to students, shop owners and headmasters.