Cycle your way through Sayaji garden

V R Chikhalia,director of parks and gardens,said,“The VMC has introduced this to attract more people to this sprawling 100-acre garden. The exact plan is being worked out. The cycling stretch will cover about 2 km.”

The corporation has also sought the expertise of Prof Gurudev Singh of Navrachna University,who is an expert in design methodologies of light-weight structures and environmentally sustainable architecture. He will help the civic body restore the bridge as it once existed in this garden.

VMC commissioner Manish Bharadwaj said,“Professor Singh has offered his services for drawing out a design. Our city engineers have already done their detailed study on the site. We want to develop the bridge on a PPP basis. It will be a cable suspension bridge,and the idea behind this is to attract people in large numbers from the Kamatibaug site to the zoo.”

The corporation plans to finalise the project by next week.

Bharadwaj says the estimated cost of building the cable suspension bridge will be about Rs 1 to 2 crore.

The Indian Express had on October 15 reported VMC’s plans to rebuild the bridge.

On September 17,the VMC brought in the toy train,Sayaji Express. It had also restored the musical fountain as well as the duck pond and recently added open gymnasium for the garden.

The magnificent suspension bridge once stood in the garden that was built and gifted by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III to the people of the city. The bridge that intersected the Vishwamitri river,flowing in a winding path through the park,was the most modern construction of those days. It was built using European technology available then. It is believed that the bridge was damaged part by part and stood only until 1965.