No space for cycle tracks in Mumbai; encroachments, political issues make it difficult: Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said it's difficult to make cycle tracks in the metropolis due to space constraints, which make it impossible to widen roads.

“Actually, I am supporting your idea (of cycle tracks). But my practical problem is that in the city area, it's very difficult to increase the width of the road. In Mumbai, we can't make cycle tracks,” he said during an investors meeting held in the city on Monday evening.

He even conceded that there are also “encroachments and political problems" in Mumbai, which make the job of creating dedicated cycle tracks difficult.

The remarks from the minister come amid reports of an ambitious 40-km cycle track project in Mumbai not taking off. Also, the existing cycle tracks are seeing few cyclists as they were apparently built without proper planning.

Gadkari said he is constructing a cycle track in his home city Nagpur, and added that some of the cities through which national highways are going will also have similar infrastructure soon.

He asserted there is a huge potential for cycle manufacturing in the country, pointing outthat exports currently stand at only Rs 25- 30,000 crore against an overall global market of Rs 8 lakh crore.

The minister's statement assumes further significance as the Bombay High Court on Monday directed the petitioner activist, a forest range officer and a BMC officer to visitthe proposed cycle track site at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and provide an updated project status on Thursday.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Madhav gave the direction while hearing a public interest litigation(PIL) challenging the construction of Powai cycle track that passes through the eco-sensitive SGNP zone.

The track is also proposed to run along Pipeline Road and Vihar Lake. The PIL filed by activist Amrita Bhattacharjee and three others has opposed the 36km project called ‘Green Wheels Along Blue Lines’, calling it “illegal and unauthorised”.