GUWAHATI: An online survey is being conducted to find out electoral candidates who are cycling friendly in Assam for the forthcoming Assembly elections. The survey also intends to understand people’s views on how we can make our cities cycling friendly. The survey is being initiated by Pedal for a Change with support from The Green Lane Foundation and Guwahati Active Mobility Forum.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, people across the world turned towards cycling mainly to keep fit and healthy. Many large cities worldwide, realizing its potential to reduce congestion, traffic accidents and pollution, have either invested or planned to invest huge amounts to develop their cycling infrastructure to encourage people to take cycling as a viable urban transportation option.
People in Assam as well as the country also took to cycling in a big way. Many people have been demanding cycling lanes, cycle parking spaces but hardly any politician is speaking about it during the election campaigns although we have seen cycle rallies been taken out. Even though departments like Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority, SPV like Guwahati Smart City Limited had mentioned that cycling will be developed in the city their policy documents a long time back and AMRUT had funds for developing cycling infrastructure, nothing much has been done except the 1.5 km bicycle track constructed by PWD at Dakhingaon in Guwahati.
Currently, the road traffic accidents mainly involving youngsters on fast-moving motor vehicles are on the rise, pollution levels from motor vehicles are rising leading to an increase in cardiovascular diseases and people are spending long hours on the roads stuck in traffic to reach their destination but we have not heard from political parties or aspiring candidates speak about these issues.
A lot can be done by political will and interventions. We need to know about candidates who are genuinely cycling and environment friendly as they can push for a cycling-friendly city. The time has come for politicians to talk about investing and developing cycling infrastructure when they talk about various developmental issues.
Interested people can click on the link below to take the survey
https://www.pedalforachange.org/is-your-candidate-cycling-friendly
