On October 1, all employees of the civic body will be cycling to work. To encourage cycling, Chandigarh Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra cycled round the city on Sunday. “I will personally greet all employees who come on cycle. We will be celebrating cycle to work on October 1. I will ride cycle to the office. It will be under the banner freedom to cycle,” Mitra said. Mitra bought a bicycle herself and enjoyed riding almost after 25 years. She drove from Industrial Area Phase 2 to Tribune Chowk to Wave Mall lights, to sector 18-19-20-21 roundabout to sector 33-34 lights to Japanese Garden and back to Cloud Nine in Industrial Area Phase I. In 2018, the then Municipal Commissioner Jitender Yadav had made it mandatory for employees to come to the office on cycle every Wednesday and allowed only those living at far-off places to use public transport. He had made the MC office a no-vehicle zone on every Wednesday. However, the practice was discontinued after several employees cited issues like sweating in the heat and difficulties in cycling to work. Later, the MC had even urged the councillors to come on cycle to the civic body office. However, the councillors had not appreciated it saying that it isn’t possible for them to cycle to the civic body office. That time the councillors had raised the issue citing that there was no infrastructure specifying that the tracks had been encroached upon. They said that the city had not become cycle-friendly and people don’t even stop seeing a cyclist or a pedestrian the way it is abroad. Gradually, even the employees stopped cycling to work after two-three weeks.
