Residents of the township can learn cycling and veterans can sharpen their skills in safe riding at an outdoor training centre, which will be unveiled next week.
The initiative is being started as several people are using bicycles to commute to their workplaces as well as to do their daily chores in the township. The authorities, on their part, want to promote cycles because they leave zero carbon footprint.
The training centre will be run jointly by the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) and the New Town Business Club.
“The decision to open the centre, which will focus on students and young adults, was taken following requests from a large number of residents of the township. The centre will come up on NKDA Football Ground, near New Town bus stand,” an NKDA official said.
“We want more and more people to depend less on fossil fuel-powered vehicles such as cars and bikes and more on bicycles to commute short distances.”
NKDA chairman Debashis Sen said even those who have been cycling for years can enrol at the training centre. “We have often seen cyclists cutting through traffic and violating signals. We want to make people realise that this is unsafe when cars, two-wheelers and buses ply on the same road. The instructors will focus on the right and safe way to ride,” Sen said.
Keeping in mind the Covid-19 pandemic, the batches will be small and all instructors and trainees will be asked to wear masks.
“Each trainee will have to pay Rs 200 for the entire session,” an NKDA official said.
NKDA will also organise women’s cycling tours on Sundays afternoons, except on the lockdown days, from 5pm to 6pm. The cyclists will start from the Clock Tower rink and ride past Kolkata Gate, Unbox Garden and Rabindra Tirtha before ending in front of Dhaba Ajante at Eco Park. A guide will lead the group.
According to Sen, the idea is to provide confidence to all women who know cycling but are not in practice.
New Town has 11km of cycling lanes. Another 20km will be added soon. In addition, 20km of wide pavement space with cycling lanes on one side has been planned.
