Aurangabad, Nov 2:
Better late than never. The administrator of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) A K Pandey claimed that the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) had started initiatives under the Smart Cities programme - Cycles4Change - in the city. Accordingly, the civic administration had started creating awareness, which would gain momentum gradually. It would help to inculcate the culture which would develop confidence amongst the citizens, and he would not feel hesitant about riding a bicycle in the city.
As a part of initiatives, the AMC administrator, along with other civic officials came to office from home on bicycles today. Pandey decided on Sunday evening, and he appealed to the civic officers to report to the office on bicycles on Monday. Some officers had to rush to the stores to buy bicycles, or some had to arrange from their relatives. Indeed, today''s experience also helped the civic officers to understand the trauma faced by the citizens while negotiating with deep potholes in the city.
The regular reporting time to the office is 10 am. As the civic officials were riding bicycles, they reached the office late by one or one and a half-hour. The municipal secretary Dilip Suryawanshi reached the office at 11 am. Then the acting chief accounts officer Sanjay Pawar, city engineer S D Panzade, additional commissioner B B Nemane, additional commissioner R P Nikam and deputy commissioner Aparna Thete arrived at the headquarter. At noon, the AMC administrator A K Pandey and the medical officer of health (MoH) Dr Neeta Padalkar, after finishing the meeting at the district collectorate, also reached the office on their bicycles.
It was indeed hectic for the administrator as the scheduled video-conferencing meeting arranged at the AMC was not working due to poor connectivity. As a result, the administrator had to again rush at the district collectorate on his bicycle. After finishing VC, he again arrived at the AMC headquarters. The civic officials through bicycle riding also experienced how much of a problem one has to face while riding the bicycle for a few kilometres.
While on the way to the AMC office, the administrator stopped and praised one sanitary worker doing an outstanding job at Kile Ark.
Sharing about his bicycle riding experience, A K Pandey said, " One should ride a bicycle at least once in a month." He, however, avoided to comment on his experience while negotiating with potholes, but just nodded that there are potholes.
" Riding a bicycle is not an easy task. We have started the awareness drive under Cycles4Change and will have to cultivate the culture to encourage the citizens to ride their bicycles on the roads. I appeal that the citizens should voluntarily come forward and start riding bicycles. Slowly and steadily wins the race. Hence, I am hopeful that the awareness and inculcation of culture will indeed take some time to see a large number of bicycles riding on cycle tracks of each road in the city. It is mission possible," said the administrator.