Open Letter to Mr Derek O-Brien, Member of Parliament, All India Trinamool Congress in response to his blog in favour of Kolkata cycle & NMT ban. Dear Mr O-Brien To put your allegation to rest, We are not from CPI(M) and far from being their friends. We are just citizens of India who love and care for our city “Kolkata” far too much, to come out in protest. All these protests we have been non-violent, creative, in accordance to the law, and definitely a-political and been self-funded. When you say the ban is keeping with the norm in major cities of the world- I would really like to know which cities you are talking about? All cities across the globe are moving towards Cycles and non motorised Transport (NMT). London a city Kolkata aspire to become, has had a cycle boom since the turn of the 21st Century (Wikipedia). You start your blog expressing your bemusement to national and international media carrying this story. Well, this issue cuts across sectors of Human rights, Environment / Global Warming and India’s energy security – hence it has rightly gotten much importance . It has not remained a Delhi Issue when all local newspapers , radio and TV has extensively carried this story and we have gotten over 20,000 signatures. A report from MOUD States that in Kolkata Trips by cycle (11 per cent) outnumber trips by cars (8 per cent) covering approx 25 Lac cycle trips made everyday. According to Census Data 2011 there are more bicycles (252,887) in Kolkata than either 2 Wheelers(117,173) or 4 Wheelers (85,605). Cycle and NMT is the transport of the poor - and this extended-ban in kolkata has taken all by surprise, when TMC whose mission is to serve Maa, Maati, Manush and has been the biggest advocate of pro-poor equitable development. Kolkata is the most polluted metropolitan city in the country and is around 2.5 times more dangerous than the capital city of Delhi .WBPCB indicates that automobiles account for nearly 50 per cent of the air pollution load. This ban will further put Kolkatas citizens health in danger, when the city is already (in)famous for being the lung cancer capital of the country. Imported Oil reliance and price hike of the oil is another compelling reason for us to promote cycles and non morotised transport -The TMC has “opposed every single fuel fuel price hike “ Fuel subsidies were a record high of Rs 1.6 lakh crore in 2012-13, putting increasing pressure on the fiscal deficit. As for solutions, The comprehensive mobility plan published by KMDA in much detail advocated the need for cycle and nmt infrastrucutre in the multi-modal transport mix for kolkata. In the “car centric” policy, the report projects a very dangerous traffic scenario for kolkata. Yours Sincerely (To read the complete letter plz visit - bit.ly/dobreply - feel free to join the debate and leave your comments)
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 12:25:51 +0000
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