Cycle club to demand bicycle lane in Manipur

IMPHAL, Feb 6: In a move to revive the shrinking bicycle lane and parking lots in Manipur,a working group has been constituted in a meeting of the newly formed Manipur Cycle Club(MCC) today.
The, former State Human Rights Commission member Yambem Laba led, working group is also all set to urge the authority concerned to provide bicycle lane in the City Development Plan(CDP) of the state capital under Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Property Alleviation’s Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM) programme.
Imphal town having around 2.5 lakh population was among 63 Indian cities wherein JNNURM aimed at developing and improving water supply, roads, play grounds, parks, street lamps, drainage etc in an effort to encourage creation of financially sustainable inclusive cities since its inception in 2005.
“However reports of providing bicycle lane or parking lots were not reflected in the CDP of Imphal under JNNURM”, a bicycle enthusiast attending the MCC meeting claimed.
MCC was floated by a group of bicycle enthusiasts from various walks of life, as part of popularizing the use of bicycle as a means of transport in this era of global warming and climate change, on January 23 last. In short the Club is the outcome of health, economy and environment affecting all sections of society, locally and globally.
The newly formed working group is expected to study the pros and cons of the central business district of the state’s CDP. Among many decisions arrived after minute discussions in the day’s meeting,the MCC will campaign for creating cycle lane and parking space in Imphal city besides formalizing launching of a bicycle marup or scheme so that at least four of each of its interested members would be offered a brand new bicycle every month.
“The bicycle marup is just not to provide cycles to its members but to popularize its use as a means of transport among the children who are compelled to go to school by vans”, another bicycle enthusiast observed.
Most of the bicycle enthusiasts including environmentalist, journalists, film makers, academicians, human rights activists, intellectuals and scholars during the MCC meeting expressed to work together for changing negative mindsets of and lack of bicycle lot in public space.Another round of MCC`s meeting will be held on February 13 next.
Five years ago from now Manipur Chief Minister chaired steering committee had reportedly work out the details of the mission besides handing over the primary implementation task to the Manipur Housing and Urban Development (MAHUD)department.