Bhubaneswar: In order to promote the cycling in the capital city, the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) in association with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will host ‘Cycles4Change’ campaign on October 9.
Bhubaneswar is one of the 95 cities to have registered for the India Cycles4Change Challenge, which is an initiative of Smart Cities Mission of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.
As part of the campaign, a cycle rally called ‘Cyclegiri – Respect4Cyclists’ will be organised at Ekamra Plaza Janpath near Sishubhavan Square at 6.30 AM on Friday, which will culminate at Dhauli, a stretch of around 12 km.
Prem Chandra Chaudhary, BMC Commissioner-cum-Chief Executive Officer, Bhubaneswar Smart City Ltd, said through this challenge, the registered cities will implement quick interventions to create a safe and cycling-friendly city through community participation.
Let’s Respect Cyclists
Cyclists too deserve the same respect and acknowledgement on roads like people do for bikers and car drivers. Therefore, the city authority will carry out extensive awareness programmes for different groups such as bus, truck and taxi owners’ associations, driving training schools and driving license centres to ensure cyclists feel safe and respected while pedaling on roads.
Community Engagement
As stakeholder engagement and community participation is the key to bring a behavioral change, and to promote cycling in any city, the City Administration has lined up some innovative programmes for Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), NGOs, professional cyclist groups and civil society members in every week.
Cycle Day Friday
Apart from encouraging enthusiasts to take up cycling, the administration urges everyone to make Friday in every week as Cycle Day. The idea behind the plan is to encourage people to come to office on a cycle once in a week i.e. on Friday to promote a better city environment, healthy lifestyle and sustainable urban habitat.
Gift A Bicycle
It’s an appeal to people who have the capacity to help others by gifting a bicycle to a person who is passionate about cycling but is not able to buy one for himself/herself. This apart, on every Friday, BSCL Chief Executive Officer and BMC Commissioner will also gift 25 cycles to COVID Sachetaks and Peer Leaders. Total 200 cycles would be given.
Cycle-Friendly Neighbourhood
Bhubaneswar aims to help communities transform into a sustainable neighbourhood by providing them continuous cycle tracks in neighborhoods and within residential areas which connects people to their daily needs. The city authority is currently taking suggestions of public in identifying loops or potential cycle tracks within residential areas in the city through citizen surveys and discussions.
So far, the public have suggested five neighborhood and corridor loops have been identified in Bhubaneswar. These are at KIIT Square- Infocity loop (Education loop), Nayapalli IRC ( Park loop ), Lumbini Vihar connecting Buddha Jayanti ( Adventure loop), Khandagiri – ITER ( Morning trail and essentials loop) and Old city ( Heritage loop).
The campaign which will continue till December 14 includes a host of activities – both online and on ground to create public interest. Celebrities can post videos on their Facebook & Instagram handles with #FridayCycleDay hashtag. Citizens taking part in #CycleGiri and #CycleDayFriday can tag to BMC and Smart City pages.
Along with 95 other cities, Bhubaneswar is taking part in the India Cycles4change challenge, which will run in two stages. In October, 11 cities will be shortlisted and will receive Rs 1 crore award and guidance from national and international experts to further scale up the initiatives in stage two, which will be held until May 2021.
