Bhubaneswar: Inching a step further on green and clean initiatives, the city administration, comprising Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL), Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), has directed the employees including the outsourced staffers to come to office once in a week on cycle or by walking in order to promote city environment, healthy lifestyle and sustainable urban habitat.
The three agencies have already issued official orders to their employees asking them to come to office either on bicycle or by walking from Friday (December 13) so as to avoid use of motorised vehicles.
While the use of cycle and walking is coming under the non-motorised transport (NMT) initiative of the city administration, the city had already taken steps like organising Patha Utsav (street festival) on Janpath between Master Canteen and Ram Mandir Squares every Sunday morning in the past to promote NMT and ensuring healthy and better lifestyle among citizens.
Chief Executive Officer of Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited Prem Chandra Chaudhary, who also holds the responsibilities of vice-chairman, BDA and Commissioner, BMC, said, “The initiative is a step towards creating sustainable smart cities and contributing something for better city environment and indirectly putting some micro efforts towards better world environment and lessening the burden arising due to global warming and climate change.”
Interestingly, as per the figures available from the Regional Transport Office (RTO), while the City’s population, as per the 2011 Census, is around 10 lakh, there are more than 14 lakh vehicles in the Capital city. The vehicles outnumbering the human population has become a major cause for concern and the state government has already initiated the work on developing a low-carbon mobility plan (LCMP) for the Capital city. The Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department and the BDA in cooperation with German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) are jointly working on the LCMP project for the city.
