Proposal to lay 19 cycle tracks in Hyderabad, non-starter

HYDERABAD: The State government is busy planning a 21-km long cycle track on the Outer Ring Road but would not say what has happened to the proposal of setting up 19 similar cycling tracks in the city two years ago. The government is preoccupied with the 21-km track on ORR between the main carriageway and service road from Nanakramguda to Telangana State Police Academy and Narsingi to Kollur with solar panel rooftops.

To promote Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) in Greater Hyderabad limits, the  Hyderabad Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (HUMTA),  a wing of  Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has planned to take up over 163 km of dedicated cycle tracks on road stretches in the city limits but till date, they remain on paper. Two or three-cycle tracks have been taken up at Necklace Road, KBR Park Road, and Gachibowli side. Apart from 19 stretches, HUMTA also planned provision of NMT  facilities, mainly cycle tracks in new and upcoming areas such as  Kokapet, Hyderabad Knowledge Centre, Nanakramguda,  Narsingi, and other places.

As most of the cycle tracks are proposed in HiTec City and surrounding areas as IT employees whose offices are about 5 to 10 km away are not able to reach them on bicycles though they want to pedal their way to work. They believe that setting up dedicated tracks would encourage them to use bicycles instead of other modes of transport which would only lead to unnecessary traffic gridlocks besides cause pollution.