Bhopal: The public bike sharing project (PBS) that was inaugurated on Sunday with much fanfare seems a half hearted effort by the authorities, even as the project was inaugurated by the chief minister himself.
The project is meant for boosting the use of bicycle for improving the health of both environment and people. Under the project, one can hire a bicycle from any of the 50 docking stations all over the city and deposit the same at the hub closest to their destination after paying the stipulated fee. However, on Monday, not a single bicycle was seen at most of the stations.
A cable wire was tied on two ends of the station at Roshanpura while a vendor was seen at the station in front of Vardhman Park. The station near MANIT Square too wore a deserted look.
Notably, in the project there is provision for 500 GPS-enabled German bicycles to be available at 50 docking stations for public use.
Congress corporator Santosh Jitendra Kasana said the corporation was only trying to save its face by inaugurating a much-awaited project. They had to purchase 500 bicycles but have only 100 by now, which shows that only formalities are being done there.
Another Congress corporator Shabista Zaki said the corporation was not ready for the project but they initiated it and their shortcomings were exposed on its first day.
However, CEO of Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited (BSCDCL) Chandramauli Shukla, when contacted, said the corporation initially had 100 bicycles but by late Monday 150 bicycles had been arranged and the process of docking them in the stations based on the routes and demand had started.
“These bicycles will be docked there by the night of Monday in rest of the stations which are devoid of it till now,” added Shukla.
