Leading cities fight to host Olympic, at home we have NGO vs Cyclothon!

Ahmedabad, 21 December 2013

We have yet not reached the situation where every decision would be a decision in real terms only when approved or disapproved by the court! But it seems we are moving to that direction faster than before.

So Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation(AMC) wants to organize Cyclothon event. But a gentleman Mr. Shukla who is lawyer in the high court and also runs NGO called Yogakshema has challenged AMC’s move to block roads for general traffic during Cyclothon event. The lawyer has filed petition based on the experience of the event last year when six major road stretches in western Ahmedabad were closed for traffic for a few hours in morning and around noon during Cyclothon in 2013.

Now isn’t it fine to block the traffic for just few hours, once in a year for Cyclothon? Well, the petitioner welcomes the concept of Cyclothon, but he argues that AMC should organize this event on alternate routes, and even on that route, one-lane should be kept opened for general traffic.

The date of event last year was 27 January which was Sunday( the AMC had taken a decision to hold Cyclothon 2014 on Sunday, January 19th). Then the roads for Cyclothon were closed last year just between 6.30 am and 1.00 pm for general traffic. However there were three problems:

(1) Due to 26th January holiday, newspapers were not printed and therefore were not in circulation on 27th, and therefore an announcement of closure of major roads could not be communicated to public through newspapers. Closure of roads therefore came as a surprise for many commuters. The AMC could make announcements on closure of roads well in advance.

(2) It was Sunday morning, and alternative roads were available to public to reach destinations, but the route selected for Cyclothon involved major roads of western Ahmedabad, which created some problem.

Roads that were declared closed for the traffic:
Nehrubridge to Income Tax circle on Ashram road
Income tax circle to CG road and Mahalakshmi cross roads
Paldi Bhattha to Anjali to APMC market
APMC market to Helmet circle
Helmet Circle to Thaltej cross roads to Vaishnavdevi circle
Bopal circle to Vaishnavdevi – Sughad circle

BRTS routes closed:
Visat junction to Maninagar
RTO to Naroda
ISKCON to Maninagar
Anjali to Naroda

Diversion of traffic:
-Gandhinagar to Vaishnavdevi
-Balapir Adalaj
-Chiloda to Sarkhej, Vadodara to Sarkhej heavy vehicle traffic diverted from Ranasan circle
-Traffic from Sanathal circle to Bopal and Shantipura circle to Sanand

(3) The roads were closed well in advance, and for fix hours. The authority could close so-and-so road just before arrival of Cyclothon, and could allow traffic to flow after cyclothon passed through particular stretch. Such flexible approach was not adopted. It was not a well coordinated effort on AMC and traffic department’s part.

But with all this experience, one has to note that it was the first Cyclothon event in Ahmedabad. Having some lessons already learnt, this year the situation could be better. The event is conceptualized as city event. It can’t be shifted to highways. It has to be held within city. Every road in city is major road. Within the city, whether you choose any route, the situation will be same. Yes, newly constructed road on Riverfront is good option, but it can’t contain entire Cyclothon route. Then if Cyclothon fails to pass through the city, the motive of spreading message of cycling and health may not be achieved.

One person’s petition doesn’t reflect societal opinion. AMC has for now postponed the Cyclothon event and shifted the date of event to 2nd February. Good if court directives help to make the event better. If directives are such that it may kill basic motive of organizing the event, then AMC should cancel the event. Let leading cities in world fight for their chance to organize Olympic, and we in Ahmedabad stop organizing a few hours long Cyclothon event, once in a year on Sunday.

Arvind Sabarmati Cyclothon Amdavad 2013 on 27th January
Cyclothon for cyclists, closed roads for others! (with pictures)
Cyclothon for juniors flagged off on Gandhi Jayanti in Amdavad