Saurabh Malik
Chandigarh, October 22
The UT Administration continues to soft-pedal on the cycle tracks issue. It's a rough ride not just for cyclists, but pedestrians as well, as they jostle their way through the poorly illuminated and pothole-ridden tracks running through the length and breadth of the city.
The authorities appear to have lost a track of the orders issued time and again by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the repair and maintenance of the paths as these still lead to disasters. The UT had at one point in time undertaken with full force the task of upgrading the tracks, with the High Court monitoring traffic management and road safety while taking up more than a few cases on the issue.
- Rs 3 crore being spent on repair, recarpeting, lighting
- 200 km of tracks in Chandigarh
- Rs 22 cr cost to lay tracks
But with Covid virtually applying brakes for nearly two years to almost everything, including the monitoring of progress by the Court, the wheel has come full circle.
The pathways at so many places disappear from under the wheels, throwing off-track the safety of the cyclist. The crevices mark a break in the journey of cyclists, as they have to get down to save themselves from falling during the daytime. At night, it is the hand of providence that saves a few.
In fact, efforts to encourage cyclists to use the tracks have hit a roadblock, with fissures and craters practically throwing the trails out of gear. Lights have been installed, but fail to illuminate the tracks at quite a few spots with tree branches throwing shadows on the narrow strips.
The UT undertook a massive exercise to prune trees after a schoolgirl lost her life only recently. But the trees abutting tracks continue to make their mammoth presence felt with their branches forming a green canopy, camouflaging the cyclist, and leaving the track in dark.
To make the matters worse, the UT is not on the right road as far as pedestrians are concerned. It has practically failed to provide paths for pedestrians along major roads and streets, compelling them to tread the tracks where the wheels roll. In the process, both pedestrians and cyclists struggle for space on the strips. Accidents, no wonder, are not uncommon with cyclists bumping into pedestrians on the paths often dubbed as the city's "arteries of calamity".
The condition of the tracks on the road separating Sectors 4 and 9 is practically deplorable. It is hardly better along the road separating Sectors 8 and 9. Deep depressions make the paths free to fall for both cyclists and walkers. The tracks give way to a massive crevice filled with sludge and muck after rain. At times, cyclists have to do a balancing act to prevent the loss of equilibrium.
Push the pedal further and you come across the absence of a safe passageway for cyclists and pedestrians from the Sector 8 stretch of the Madhya Marg to the Sector 17 or 18 at the Press light point. The road that takes off from near the Sector 18, 19, 20 and 21 roundabout on the Sector 20 side gives no indication of the garbage strewn on the track ahead.
Condition deplorable
The condition of the tracks on the road separating Sectors 4 and 9 is deplorable. It is hardly better along the road separating Sectors 8 and 9. Deep depressions make the paths free to fall for both cyclists and walkers. The tracks give way to a massive crevice filled with sludge and muck after rain.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/lOgijRx
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