By Mehboob Inamdar
Aurangabad, June 2:
Many bicyclists feel that the number of cycle tracks should be increased as most of the roads in the city are not much safe for riding a bicycle. There are many who wish to ride a bicycle in the city but cannot do this because the majority of roads are single or double lanes and had no bicycle track like in foreign countries.
Great importance was attached to health in Covid situation, so many youths now prefer to ride a bicycle to keep them fit. Also, people are using it to save money after the fuel price rise, because of which its sale has been increased in manifold during the last few months.
Talking to the newspaper, the president of Aurangabad District Bicyclists Association CA Nikhil Kacheshwar said that it's good that the first lane was developed by Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) between Kranti Chowk to Railway Station Road.
“We feel very safe while riding bicycles on the lane. However, other roads are not much safe as they do not have any lane for riders and two-wheelers traffic is much more there. Safety is important for bicycle riding. There should be a separate lane road on the line of national highways as it would increase the number of riders and this will help to reduce traffic as well as pollution of the city,” he said.
Nikhil said that there is no facility for bicycle riding at night. “Gymnasiums, swimming pools were shut down in lockdown. People, specially the young, had options to do running or cycling. Many of them preferred cycle riding,” he added.
Astik Kumar Pandey, Aurangabad Municipal Corporation Administrator and CEO Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited, said that Aurangabad Smart City had developed the city's first-ever public cycle track from Kranti Chowk to Railway Station.
“Subsequently, the city has been shortlisted among 25 cities across India under the national-level ‘Cycles4Change Challenge’. Covid-19 pandemic has once again emphasized the importance of health and the environment. In these times, cycling has emerged to be a solution. Cities across the world are working on improving bicycle infrastructure. In the city, we have committed to developing 20 kilometres of cycle track under Smart City with the help of all stakeholders to make cycling safe and convenient for all. Beyond fitness, we want our citizens to use cycling as a mode of transport,” he added.