State govt seeks expression of interest to set up bicycle plants

kolkata: In another significant stride towards making Bengal best in industries and commerce sector, the Mamata Banerjee government has sought expression of interest (EoI) for setting up of cycle manufacturing plants in Bengal.

The EoI comes with the assurance from the state government to buy 50 per cent of the bicycles that would be manufactured in the units to come up in the state.

This comes when the state government has distributed around 1 crore bicycles free-of-cost to students of class IX to XII in state-run and government-aided schools and madrashas under Sabuj Sathi scheme.

The state government is also going to distribute another 20 lakh bicycles among students studying in such schools and madrashas in 2021.

With such a huge requirement of bicycles in the state, the Chief Minister had over and again expressed her willingness to set up bicycle manufacturing factories in Bengal. She had also directed concerned officers to look into the possibilities of setting up bicycle factories in the state.

Seeking EoI for setting up bicycle factories, the state government assured of allotting land with all necessary infrastructure at industrial parks to set up the factories besides ensuring financial incentives, including waiver of land conversion fees, 100 per cent exemption of stamp duty and registration fees, waiver of electricity duty for five years from the date of commencement of production in the factory.

The state government would also ensure uninterrupted supply of water and power. It is a dream project of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and introduced in October 2015. She had distributed the first batch of bicycles among the students of Gopiballavpur Block II, which was earlier in West Midnapore and now in Jhargram district. So far, the state government has distributed bicycles worth around Rs 2700 crore. Sabuj Sathi was declared "winner" by the World Summit of Information Society in 2020.