India Cycles4Change challenge: Chandigarh to get Rs1-cr grant from Centre

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 28

Chandigarh has been selected as one of the 11 cities in the country to receive a support of Rs 1 crore from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for the “India Cycles4Change (C4C) Challenge”, an initiative to promote cycling, organised under the Smart Cities Mission.

The challenge

In all, 107 cities had participated in the first round of the challenge launched in June 2020, under which they had to implement and introduce low-cost changes to increase cycling infrastructure. Of this, Chandigarh was among the top 25 cities shortlisted in February 2021.

The event was presided over by Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). It was attended by key stakeholders from the Central and state governments, including municipal commissioners of cities and MDs/CEOs of Smart Cities.

KK Yadav, MC Commissioner-cum-CEO-Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL), and NP Sharma, Chief General Manager, CSCL, attended the online event and received the award.

The CEO said Chandigarh would also receive guidance from national and international experts to further scale up cycling-friendly initiatives.

As per a survey by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), the use of cycles has increased by 65 per cent during the lockdown.

In all, 107 cities had participated in the first round of the challenge launched in June 2020, under which they had to implement and introduce low-cost changes to increase cycling infrastructure. Of this, Chandigarh was among the top 25 cities shortlisted in February 2021.

The CEO said a presentation was given to the jury members to cement its place in the top 11. The monetary support will be utilised in scaling up the cycling-friendly initiatives in the city.

He said various parameters on which the cities were judged are forming the C4C work team, process and rationale behind selection of corridor and neighbourhood locations, site analysis, handlebar survey process and findings, designing solutions for corridor and neighbourhood through site visits & focused discussions, testing design solutions on ground for corridor and neighbourhood through stakeholder & community engagement, measuring the impact of interventions through photo and video documentation, forming the scale-up cycling plan and identifying funding sources, setting up the Healthy Streets Apex Committee and forming the Healthy Streets Policy, process of rolling out the perception survey and its findings, on-ground engagement through cycle rallies, cyclothons, cycle repair workshops, cycle training programmes, cycle to work & cycle rental programmes, online engagement through social media campaign to collect cycling stories and press coverage of the C4C in the city.

He said the CSCL had already constructed a dedicated network of 200-km cycle track in the city and more were being constructed to connect the periphery and the city’s industrial areas. Chandigarh was also gearing up for the launch of the first phase of the public-bike sharing project with 1,250 bicycles at 155 docking stations spread across the city.

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