Chandigarh, October 11:- Sh. K.K. Yadav, IAS, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Chandigarh-cum-CEO, Chandigarh Smart City Ltd. today flagged off a bicycle rally organised at new lake, Sector 42, here.
The bicycle rally was organised by the Chandigarh Smart City Ltd. to promote bicycling in the city in a big way. The rally started off at sector 42 lake at 7.00 am and covered the interior of the whole sector with a route of 3.5 kms.
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Among present were Sh. Anil Garg, Additional Commissioner, MCC, Sh. N.P. Sharma, Chief General Manager, CSCL, officials of CSCL, representatives from RWA’s (CRAWFED & FOSWAC) and various bicycling groups of the city.
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While briefing about the event, Sh. K.K. Yadav said that the objective of the rally was to make the participants aware about the benefits of bicycling and also about Cycle4Change challenge. He said that for Cycle4Change Challenge the city is gearing up for launch of a pilot project with 10 docking stations at various locations in the city with 100 bicycles. He said that the CSCL in association with various cycle lovers and RWAs will scale up such events to make more people to enjoy cycling in the city.
He said that the Best Photo & Video Challenge has also been launched for the citizens of Chandigarh to participate and showcase their creativeness. The last date for submission of entries is 31st Oct 2020. The details are available on social media platform such as CSCL website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter page. The residents are encouraged to participate and show their spirit.
In the rally, the participants were given certificates for showing their enthusiasm and promoting bicycling in their own way. Public Bike Sharing Bicycles were also on display at the rally venue, which were also used by the participants.
The India Cycles 4 Change Challenge is an initiative of the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs, Government of India, to inspire and support the cities to implement cycling- friendly initiatives in response to the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown.
There are various measures the cities can adopt to increase the cycling initiatives in their domain, like:
· Creating extensive cycling networks through low-cost interventions like pop-up cycle lanes and traffic-calmed or non-motorizedzones.
· Launching programmes such as community-led cycle rental schemes that increase the availability of cycles to citizens
· Promoting the usage of cycling through public events and outreach.
In the long run, the Smart Cities Mission encourages cities to convert temporary interventions into permanent ones.
CHANDIGARH REGISTERS FOR THE CHALLENGE
Chandigarh is one of the 95 cities to have registered for this challenge. To ensure this transformation, Chandigarh is committed to working with its citizens as it develops and implements the proposals. Community engagement is a key component of the initiative, and Chandigarh seeks the support of its citizens in making this programme a success. The City Beautiful, Chandigarh envisions citizens to participate in its efforts to achieve zero-carbon mobility.
The process started with community engagement through forms and surveys to know the condition and attitude of people towards cycling in the city. The form asked questions regarding the challenges, what areas need to be improved for safer cycling etc.
Also, handlebar surveys are being done to know the pain-points in cycling from the cyclist’s perspective. A total of 5 routes have been identified in the city for the same, and people are being encouraged to cycle on these routes; identify the issues and communicate them through the survey forms.
On similar lines, events have been planned in the city with various cyclist groups, RWA’s and city officials to increase awareness about the city’s participation in the challenge; and to encourage people to fill in the forms and give their feedback.
Chandigarh aims to know the opinion of as many citizens as possible, so that the issues can be resolved efficiently to make Chandigarh the bicycling capital of India.
