Three years after the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) spent big bucks and inaugurated the cycling track at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), the agency is now preparing to dismantle a portion of it to make way for a dedicated bus lane.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/nov/14cycle-track.jpg" alt="" /> Only the 1.5-km stretch on the main road, which will now be converted to a dedicated bus lane, was being maintained properly by the MMRDA
The project, which cost a whopping R6.48 crore, has been a complete failure with hardly anyone using the path for cycling. The 1.5-km patch of the southbound lane will now be taken apart for another project. Confirming the same, Metropolitan Commissioner UPS Madan said, &ldquo;We have plans to start a dedicated bus lane service from MTNL junction in BKC up to Kalanagar signal. For that, we may have to remove the portion of the track on BKC Road.&rdquo;
No takers It is only this portion on the main road &mdash; which will now be dismantled &mdash; that has been kept in good shape. As for the rest of the 13-km-long path on the internal roads, the stretches are so shoddily maintained that hardly anybody uses it.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/nov/14cyclist.jpg" alt="" /> The rest of the track, on internal roads, is covered with mud, causing cyclists to slip
mid-day paid a visit to the entire track and found it scattered with mud. At one spot, we encountered a rare event &mdash; a cyclist using the track, but the man lost his balance and fell due to the mud. At another spot, there was an open manhole.
A senior MMRDA official confessed on the condition that he would not be named, &ldquo;It was a wrong decision to construct a cycling track in BKC. It wasn&rsquo;t required at all, since people here hardly use bicycles.&rdquo; The project was the brainchild of then Additional Metropolitan Commissioner SVR Srinivas; he is now additional municipal commissioner at the BMC.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/nov/14manhole.jpg" alt="" /> An open manhole in the middle doesn&rsquo;t make for a good cycling trip either. Pics/Satyajit Desai
mid-day has, in the past, reported on how public funds were blown up for the project. Former MMRDA Commissioner Rahul Asthana had called the project &lsquo;nonsense&rsquo;. Soon after the track&rsquo;s opening, this paper had highlighted how the CM had opened an incomplete track (&lsquo;Mr CM, see what you inaugurated&rsquo;, April 29, 2011). A subsequent report had highlighted that no feasibility study had been conducted before embarking on such a huge expenditure (&lsquo;RTI: No survey done for R6.5-crore BKC cycle track&rsquo;, January 2, 2012). The applicant who had filed an RTI query in the matter had accused officials of having ulterior motives behind granting the project to the contractor.

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A stretch of 1.5 km on the main road will be utilised for a dedicated bus lane from MTNL junction to Kalanagar signal; the rest of the track is so poorly maintained that almost nobody uses it

Mumbai: 3 years and Rs 6.5 cr later, BKC cycle track to go

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Home / Mumbai / Mumbai News / Article / Mumbai: 3 years and Rs 6.5 cr later, BKC cycle track to go

Mumbai: 3 years and Rs 6.5 cr later, BKC cycle track to go

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