Is it a cycle track in Karimnagar town? Can anyone ratify the claims of ruling party leaders?
The so-called Cycle tracks as per signboards are laid with cement tiles and having several obstructions with electric poles, encroachment by traders, illegal parking by autos and motorists, transformers and more
The District runner and riders association leaders dare the ruling party leaders to pedal the bicycle on the so-called cycle track and guide the cyclists to take up cycling for a healthy living
KARIMNAGAR, OCTOBER 02, 2023: If this picture states that it is the cycle track on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) in Hyderabad, then what can be said about the cycle tracks taken up as part of the Smart City project in Karimnagar town? Any guesses?
Though, the ruling party leaders claim that the Karimnagar Town was developing on par with Hyderabad city as part of the Smart City project, in contrary, it was progressing in reverse on all fronts without any vision for the future requirements of the fast growing Karimnagar town with the coming up of new colonies and merger of adjoining villages into the Municipal Corporation of Karimnagar (MCK).
In Karimnagar town, one could only see the glaring signboards of ‘cycle tracks’ prominently displayed informing that there are cycle tracks on the Smart City roads in various parts of the town, but one could hardly find a cycle lane in any part of Karimnagar town. Even the so-called cycle tracks which are laid with cement tiles are having several obstructions such as ramps, electric poles, transformers, auto-stands with illegal parking, signboard by the shoppers and encroachment by the traders. Surprisingly, the cycle tracks have turned into a safe place for the people mostly the government employees to park their vehicles at Prathima multiplex free of cost and attend to their duties in other parts of the integrated district and pick up their vehicles in the evening. In the meantime, the illegal parking of vehicles was causing umpteen woes to the roads due to frequent traffic snarls following the traffic congestion.
As part of the Smart City project, the MCK authorities should encourage non-motorised transport in the town and keep the cycles on the proposed cycle-tracks for the benefit of the people to use it and leave it on the track at various destinations. There should be segregated lanes exclusively for bicycles to avoid accidents and provision of safe and secured parking space for bicycles. The authorities should also set up cycle sharing stations at important places for the benefit of people to travel on the bicycle on allocate cycle track. It is better known to the ruling party leaders where are the bicycles which were purchased as part of the cycle sharing stations in Karimnagar town.
Ironically, the neighbouring Warangal city, which was included in the Smart City project, had developed separate cycle tracks by allocating separate enclosures on the roads to avoid accidents. Incidentally, in ORR Hyderabad, the authorities had allocated 4.5 meters width cycle track for the benefit of cyclists.
When the authorities announced construction of separate cycle tracks as part of Smart city project, we felt very happy and excited to take up cycle as the mode of transport. We also thought of encouraging the people to take up cycling for lots of health benefits and pedal their cycle on specially laid cycle tracks. But, it remained a mirage. As there is no cycle track anywhere in the town except for the signboards to please the Smart City authorities, alleged a cyclist from district runners and riders association.
They dared the MCK authorities and the ruling party leaders to pedal their cycle on the so-called cycle tracks in various parts of Karimnagar town and prove that they had really laid the separate cycle tracks in the town to provide non-motorised mobility to the residents, who do not have any public transport facilities. Incidentally, the Karimnagar is the only town in the state, which does not have any public transport facilities.
