A group of people from various professions who use cycles for most of their daily commute have been training Kolkatans on how to ride bicycles in the hope that it will become a more popular mode of transport in the city.
The organisers of the free training feel that encouraging more people to take up cycling is the only way to amplify the demand for safer and restriction-free roads for cyclists. It is only when the number of people demanding an end to the ban on cycling in Kolkata grows that the authorities will take some positive action, they said.
The lessons are now being imparted in lanes around Pareshnath temple in Ultadanga’s Gouribari in north Kolkata every Saturday and Sunday.
Training sessions were held earlier, too, but had to be stopped because of the pandemic. After the number of Covid cases fell, the training resumed a month ago. About 10 to 12 people are trained every week.
The group behind the initiative includes a documentary filmmaker, a private tutor and a retired deputy registrar of a Union government-run science institute in Kolkata, all of whom cycle for their regular commute.
“A lot of people who cannot ride bicycles are interested in learning how to ride one. I get requests from many young people who want to learn cycling as it is pollution-free and also helps one stay physically fit,” said Sunish Deb, a retired deputy registrar at the SN Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences. Deb coaches the learners in Gouribari.
A resident of Gouribari Lane, Deb still visits his former workplace on a bicycle almost every week.
Satanjib Gupta, a documentary filmmaker and an advocate of cycling in Kolkata, is another face behind the initiative. Gupta stays in Behala in west Kolkata and rides his bicycle to Ajoynagar and Dhakuria in south Kolkata almost every week for work.
One of the reasons behind organising the free training sessions is to build a formidable mass of responsible cyclists, he said. “I am astonished that cycles are banned on most arterial roads of Kolkata. This will change only when more people start riding bicycles and demand the lifting of the ban. Not including cycles in the transport policy is not justifiable by any means,” said Gupta.
Cycling is prohibited on major thoroughfares of Kolkata. A notification issued by Kolkata police in 2014 said bicycles were being restricted “with a view to providing for safe and uninterrupted movement of vehicular traffic”.
In the wake of the Covid pandemic, the police are, however, not imposing fines on cyclists as many people from the low income group come to work in the city on cycles because they want to avoid crowded public transport.