To decongest market, Lajpat Nagar traders’ body plans bicycle service

Under the plan, four cycle stands will be set up in the market area. Each stand will have 10 bicycles — six designed for men and four for women. However, a person is free to use any bicycle they please, depending on their availability.

In a fortnight, people visiting the busy market in South Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar will be able ditch private vehicles to take free bicycle rides around the marketplace. The service, which aims to reduce congestion in the area, will be started and maintained by the Traders Association Lajpat Nagar (TALN).

The initiative is part of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) “parking management and decongestion” plan in Lajpat Nagar market. (HT Photo)

Under the plan, four cycle stands will be set up in the market area. Each stand will have 10 bicycles — six designed for men and four for women. However, a person is free to use any bicycle they please, depending on their availability.

The initiative is part of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) “parking management and decongestion” plan in Lajpat Nagar market.

Ashwani Marwah, joint secretary of TALN, said the move will help decongest the market place as it will discourage people, especially local residents, from bringing cars and motorcycles to the market.

“We were supposed to have started the service by now, but it was delayed due to the announcement of Lok Sabha polls. We are now hoping to initiate free bicycle service within 15 days,” Marwah said.

He said the association was waiting for a no-objection certificate from the SDMC to begin the service.

A senior SDMC official said it was a community led-development programme aimed at decongesting Lajpat Nagar market area being implemented in the region with the help of the market association and the traffic police.

“The market association has to implement this plan so they can go ahead and start free bicycle service,” the official said.

Yogesh Pahuja, president, Lajpat Nagar II C-Block RWA, praised the initiative and said it would help reduce congestion in the area. He warned, however, that convincing people to use bicycles might be a hurdle in the implementation of the project.

“Visitors coming with family will hardly use this service. People these days generally do not use bicycles for such purposes, so it will require great efforts to sensitise shoppers to use this service,” Pahuja said.

Marwah said two cycle stands will be constructed near the two Lajpat Nagar Metro stations — on the Pink and Violet lines — and the other two at the other ends of Feroze Gandhi Marg and Veer Savarkar Marg.

Users will have to register on a mobile application and scan the QR code sent to their phone at the scanning device installed at the stand, after which a bicycle will be unlocked.

“These will be GPS-enabled smart bicycles, so the chances of these getting stolen will be minimal. The cost incurred on the project will be borne by the TALN,” Marwah said. He, however, did not divulge the cost of the project.

The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) in its report submitted in February had praised the model adopted at Lajpat Nagar for its parking management and decongestion plan. Under this, 63 CCTV cameras have been installed in the market and 12 e-rickshaws have been put in service to ferry shoppers from the Metro station for free. Six more e-rickshaws will be procured by the end of April.

Cars are parked in the market in demarcated 45-degree-angled parking slots. The area can, currently, accommodate around 700 vehicles on the surface.