Reducing carbon footprint: Officials in Odisha capital paddle to work

Bhubaneswar: It’s bicycle Friday in Bhubaneswar! As per the decision of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL), all staff, including senior officials of all three city administrative bodies paddled to their respective offices today.

The initiative is aimed at ensuring sustainable non-motorised transport in the capital city and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Over 1,500 employees of the three organisations, who come to office on two-wheelers and four-wheelers, today reached their respective offices on cycles. Besides, those staying on the city outskirts used public transport to reach their work stations. Leading from the front, BMC Commissioner and BDA Vice-Chairman Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary reached the BMC office on cycle and lauded everyone for taking the initiative to promote non-motorized transport in the city.

“Today over 1,500 employees of all three institutions used cycles to reach office and this number will go up in the future. This will definitely bring back the habit of cycling among people,” said the BMC Commissioner.

In a related development, BDA has made Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) mandatory for all housing projects in order to promote non-motorized transport (NMT) for a clean city environment. The Building Plan Committee of the development authority had also decided that the provision for the dedicated cycle tracks should be an integral part of planning.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Odisha Pollution Control Board, in its recent report, had stated that cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Balasore, Angul and Talcher witnessed a significant rise in pollution levels due to increase in motor vehicle, unplanned urbanisation, industrial and agricultural activities. According to the statistics of Regional Transport Office (RTO), Bhubaneswar has 14 lakh vehicles against a population of 10 lakh.