1-km long bicycle track goes missing from Seven Hills?- ASCDCL has announced the second track on Feb 4

Aurangabad, Feb 23:

The one-km long bicycle track cum pedestrian way established by the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) seems to have failed in the trial testing as all the fibre-make bollards fixed on the road stretched between the Seven Hills and old Central Octroi Checkpost has been removed on Wednesday?

Earlier, the ASCDCL has announced the establishment of the second bicycle track after Kranti Chowk in the city on February 4, 2022. From the second day, the JCB was pressed to dig out the 1-metre wide sideway of the cement concrete road. The track location was adjacent to the MGM Hospital's entrance. So far, the sideway was used by MGM Hospital visitors to park their vehicles. An unclaimed auto-rickshaw stand also got formed, apart from a few makeshift shopkeepers selling

fruits and food items. On Feb 5 and 6, the sideway was converted into a bitumen pathway. The fibre-make bollards (of 2-feet height) were fixed with nut bolts on a stretch of 150 feet. However, the experiment seems to have got failed. The bollards were damaged to park the autos and motorcycles on the sideway.

8-10 bollards lying on road

According to sources, " I was shocked to see 8-10 bollards lying uprooted and scattered near the MGM Hospital's left end portion at around 11 pm on Feb 22. The bollards were of poor quality as a hard touch was enough for them to get uprooted. I

feel ASCDCL would not be taking up the issue again. It may shelve the idea silently as its present target is to launch major works before the March-end."

Footpath turned into a bicycle track!

According to an eyewitness," I saw few AMC or ASCDCL personnel taking away the bollards lying scattered on the road today at 10 am. They also removed the remaining fixed bollards. Sadly, the patch on which the bollards were fixed was witnessing frequent traffic congestion. The dangerous part of the road is that it does not have a footpath. Instead of constructing a footpath (or a raised platform), the ASCDCL converted the sideway into the track. The surface of this concrete road is uneven. Hence place of selection for the track is wrong."

The ASCDCL's spokesperson, Arpita Sharad said, " The track was launched on a trial basis. We will revise our implementation plan on the basis of our observation and ground report. The decision of track has not been withdrawn. It will exist on the same route. Meanwhile, the ASCDCL chief executive officer (CEO) A K Pandey has decided to hire transgenders. They will be assigned the responsibility of safeguarding the bicycle tracks in the city. They will ensure that no vehicle is parked or no vendor or hawker set's his business on them. As per soon-to-be finalised parking policy, no vehicle will be allowed to park on the roadsides or the bicycle tracks."