After bumpy start, Sunday cycle track is back

Safe space: The cycle track will be open for four more Sundays.

Mumbai, May 14, 2018 00:37 IST

Updated: May 14, 2018 00:37 IST

Private radio channel to maintain track; permission to cycle only till Girgaum

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) weekend cycle track project resumed on Sunday after around a month, with about 100 cyclists pedalling along.

A private radio channel has been appointed to maintain the track for one month.

The BMC had announced the weekend cycle track from NCPA to the Worli end of the sea link in December last year. The track was initially supposed to run for 11.5 km, via Marine Drive, Babulnath, Peddar Road, Annie Besant Road up to the sea link. It was to be free of cost, and an agency had been appointed for its maintenance. Citizens would be able to get their own bicycles or rent one from kiosks for ₹100 per hour. The track was to be open every Sunday and on certain Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. Yuva Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray, the municipal commissioner and the police commissioner had inaugurated the track.

But the project ran into trouble from the start. The track ran only for about 4.5 km from NCPA to Girgaum Chowpatty, as the agency could not secure permission from the traffic police for the rest of the stretch. It was not operational on some Sundays due to VIP movement. The traffic police had also complained about the quality of bollards put up.

The agency’s contract ended in March. The BMC issued a fresh advertisement in April inviting agencies to maintain the track, and a radio channel was allotted the work. The BMC will pay it ₹3.5 lakh per week. The agency is supposed to provide 30 cycles, a towing van, an ambulance and has to man the entire track.

A representative of the channel said, “We are very happy with the response and want Mumbaikars to avail of this facility. We wanted to do something for the city as our channel is dedicated to it.”

The track will still run only up to Chowpatty, as the BMC does not have the requisite permission to extend it up to Worli. It will be open for four more Sundays.

“We need to give more publicity to the track. More cycling communities should associate with it,” said Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, A ward.