Gzb admin urges citizens to observe car-free day on 10th of every month

Ghaziabad administration officials on Wednesday urged residents to support and observe car-free day on tenth day of every month in order to make the city traffic chaos-free and also to help curb pollution.

Ghaziabad administration officials on Wednesday urged residents to support and observe car-free day on tenth day of every month in order to make the city traffic chaos-free and also to help curb pollution.

Additional district magistrate Priti Jaiswal visited some of the intersections in the city on Wednesday and requested vehicle owners to curb the use of their cars for the day. (Sakib Ali/HT file photo)

Additional district magistrate Priti Jaiswal visited some of the intersections in the city on Wednesday and requested vehicle owners to curb the use of their cars for the day. She was accompanied by volunteers from the Resident’s Welfare Association Federation, Ghaziabad and they distributed pamphlets seeking support from car owners at Atal Chowk, Vasundhara and also at the busy intersection of Chaudhary Morh on GT Road.

“The car-free day call is welcome. As it is the first day, we do not expect people to shun their cars immediately. But, the vehicle owners we spoke to at the intersections have responded positively. They also told us bottlenecks of the internal transport in the city. The drive will see results only after we observe it regularly and not just on a single day,” Jaiswal said.

“We request the citizens to observe car-free day on tenth of every month. Meanwhile, we will also rope in other departments to support the cause,” Jaiswal said.

As the traffic spilled on to the roads of Ghaziabad city on Wednesday – the first day of the car-free day call, the officials from Ghaziabad traffic police came in full support and travelled seven kilometres on their bicycles to the busy Chaudhary Morh.

“It was a wonderful experience since I was riding the bicycle after 15 years. All our officers also took out their bicycles from the police lines and travelled to the intersection. I will use the bicycle for the entire day to support the car-free day call,” said Amar Singh, superintendent of police (traffic).

The officials also gave a call to rope in other stakeholders, including the regional transport department, civil defence volunteers and also the auto unions for discussions to make car-free day a success in the city.

The federation roped in nearly 100 of their members for distribution of pamphlets at busy crossings such as CISF Road, Mohan Nagar, Raj Nagar Extension, Chaudhary Morh, Atal Chowk at Vasundhara and Swadeshi Chowk at Vijay Nagar.