The newly designed Aundh ‘Smart City’ road from Bremen Circle to Parihar Chowk is unable to cope with the evening rush of peak hour traffic. Two wheeler riders have been using the broadened footpath as an additional lane. This road will cost Rs.22 crore for a 1.5 km stretch.
“Pune is a dynamic city and the government of India officials are pleased with our work so far and are expecting more from us. During the review meeting of the smart city with Durga Shanker Mishra, secretary, ministry of urban development recently, they want more visible changes in the city. This project will enrich people’s lives and the secretary said that the government is ambitious when it comes to Pune,” Prerana Deshbhratar, CEO PSCDCL and additional municipal commissioner explained. Besides, Pune is already leading in the status of number of projects as compared to other cities, she added.
Citizen engagement is the number one priority on our list and we set up our projects only after several deliberations with the residents of this city. What came across on top of everyone’s list were water and transport and accordingly we prioritised our projects, thus, the first project was 24x7 water supply followed by the pilot street design project in Aundh, she said.
“About three decades ago, Pune was known as a cycle city. Even today there are thousands who use cycles - including women, school children, postmen, newspaper and milk delivery boys, cycle enthusiasts, sportsmen and health conscious persons. If there had not been an increase in demand for cycles, all cycle shops in the city would have been shut down long back,” he says.
{{/usCountry}}“About three decades ago, Pune was known as a cycle city. Even today there are thousands who use cycles - including women, school children, postmen, newspaper and milk delivery boys, cycle enthusiasts, sportsmen and health conscious persons. If there had not been an increase in demand for cycles, all cycle shops in the city would have been shut down long back,” he says.
{{/usCountry}}Cycles can be used by any healthy person for a trip of 5 km to 10 km. Such use of cycles will reduce the number of vehicles on road. This is what has been seen in European countries like Netherlands where the number of cycles far exceeds the country’s population. But this happened because all required facilities for cycling have been provided. There is a large dormant urge for cycling in citizens which does not surface because of lack of safe, comfortable and usable cycling facilities on roads. If these are provided and maintained properly there will definitely be a surge in cycling with a big bonus advantage of reduction in traffic and pollution, is what the cycling enthusiasts chorus in response.