Footpaths in Pune to be used as cycle tracks?

If the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is to be believed, footpaths in the city are supposed to double up as cycle tracks too.

This startling statement was made by Nandkishore Karale, executive engineer of the Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mission (JNNURM) cell in the PMC.

Karale was responding to DNA’s story about the civic body paying for non-existent cycle tracks in the city (‘PMC pays for non-existent cycle tracks, footpaths’, DNA, February 26).

The report had highlighted how cycle tracks and footpaths were missing from Sinhagad Road and the old Mumbai-Pune highway, even though the PMC had paid the construction cost.

Defending the civic body’s decision to pay for construction, he said, “We have laid wide enough footpaths on these roads, which can double up as cycle tracks. Those who wish to cycle can use them.”

However, he refused to comment when pointed out that both the cycle tracks and footpaths were missing on both sides of the roads in some places. Karale’s statement was negated by civic activist and non-motorised transport experts.

Anvita Arora, director of Innovative Transport Solutions Pvt Ltd (iTrans), a wholly owned subsidiary of IIT-Delhi, said footpaths can never be equated with cycle tracks.

“The Indian Road Congress (IRC) has specifications for cycle tracks, which are very different from that of footpaths. It would be very wrong on the part of the civic body to equate both,” she said.

Terming the civic official’s statement as “callous and dubious”, activist Vijay Kumbhar said, “This is a very serious issue and the municipal commissioner should take immediate action. The official should not try to brush it under the carpet by calling footpaths cycle tracks. It is a criminal offence.”