MARGAO: Xaxti Riders, Margao based cycling club has made an ardent appeal to the Goa Government for the need of cycle tracks in all Goan towns and highways.
Speaking to media at the Margao Municipal Council on Friday, Sameer Nadkarni, co-founder, Xaxti Riders said that there was a visible increase in the number of hobby and sports cyclists across Goa in the last two-three years. Nadkarni estimated the figure to be close to 2,000 and growing.
According to Nadkarni, cycling needs to be promoted as a commuting option between home and office, for which safe, clearly demarcated cycle tracks are a must. “Ideally, there should be cycle tracks in all our Goan towns and on all highways like in many other cities and states of India. For cycling to become popular, rider safety is extremely critical,” Nadkarni said. uoting the example of Pune city in Maharashtra, Nadkarni said that the Pune Municipal
Corporation had recently earmarked Rs 80 crore to repair the existing and construct new cycling tracks across the entire city as a part of their Smart City project. As a part of this project, the Pune civic body was also planning to implement an ambitious ‘public bicycle scheme’ whereby cyclists could hop-on and hop-off cycles across the city at nominal rental fees.
Nadkarni complimented Goa CM Manohar Parrikar for personally giving cycling a fillip in the Panjim City as a part of Panjim’s Smart City plan.
