Bicycle industry launches protest over installation of reflectors

UCPMA president D S Chawla also sat on a hunger strike and the industry had declared plans of a chain hunger strike if demands are not met, but that strike too has been deferred for three days.

Charanjit Singh Vishwakarma, past president of UCPMA, said, “We are not against installation of reflectors on bicycles. We know these are for the safety of bicyclists. We are only against the rules by which manufacturers can also be penalised.”

He added, “Bicycle manufacturers have been asked to install BIS-approved 10 reflectors on each bicycle and they also need to pay an annual fee of Rs 56,000 (including taxes) to BIS for annual audit of reflectors inside their manufacturing unit. They need to get certificate of conformity (CoC) from BIS annually. Also, if the stock of a manufacturer is found without reflectors, he/she can be jailed for two years and fined up to Rs 2 lakh as well. The rules have come into effect from January 1, 2023.”

It may be noted that the central government’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had ordered to make it mandatory for bicycle manufacturers to use specific reflectors from September 1, 2016, but the order never saw the light of day.

Chawla said, “We are not against installation of reflectors, but we want the heavy fee to be reduced. Even the clause to punish manufacturers should be withdrawn because if reflectors are removed by the dealers or the cyclists – the manufacturers shouldn’t be held responsible for it.”

Vishwakarma said that there are only four bicycle reflector manufacturers in India, out of which three are in Ludhiana and one in Delhi. The government has imposed a ban on import of bicycle reflectors from China and this will lead to forming a cartel. We should be allowed to buy reflectors from anywhere we like and the annual fee of BIS should be reduced for small and medium enterprises. As of now, it is the same for micro, small, medium as well as large industries.”

Gurmeet Singh Kular, president of Federation of Industry and Commercial Undertakings (FICO), said, “A challan can be issued to a cyclist if he is riding his cycle without reflectors, but why should manufacturers be penalised for it?”
Avtar Singh Bhogal, of Bhogal Cycles, said, “From January 1 onwards, small and medium bicycle industrial houses haven’t done any work. We have no choice but to protest.”

On Monday afternoon, Ludhiana BJP president Rajneesh Dhiman, Punjab BJP chief spokesperson Anil Sarin and many other BJP leaders of Ludhiana met industrialists to get the dharna lifted. The next course of action will be taken after January 19, said the industrialists.