Encroachments are eating up space meant for cycles

I recently received an email from the PMC about its cy cle-track plan. To the newcomers in town, here's a bit of context. The civic body is planning to turn the time back in the city . Pune used to be the city of bicycles. Today , you could die if you use a bicycle on the roads here.As citizens, we are the most exposed to infrastructural crises. One of the problems is the lack of space.Pune has several cycle tracks. But are they being used for bicycles? No, most of these tracks are uneven and occupied by illegal hawkers.So far, I haven't seen the socalled anti-encroachment drives making much of an impact. There are examples all around us. Vegetable sellers operating out of vans use up footpaths. One guy I saw was selling 3kg of papayas for Rs 100 he was occupying an entire lane.
The footpaths and cy cle tracks near the Navrang Plaza, at Tingrenagar, remains completely occupied by vendors. On the way to the airport, one can see many fastfood outlets occupying entire pedestrian walkways. There is absolutely no space for legs and we're talking dedicated tracks for those on pedals?
Another prime example is the 2-km stretch from 509 to Nala. There's no footpath covering this distance. Truck drivers use the middle lane of the road and ignore all rules.On many occasions, I have seen trucks parked in front of bus stops creating immense inconvenience for commuters.
The point I wish to make is that we must save the space we already have. Roads are for moving vehicles and not for selling papayas. Instead of pushing for these “dedicated spaces“ bus lanes, cycle lanes, fast lanes, flyovers we must look at optimizing the use of existing space. Thousands of feet of space can be cleared if the PMC removes encroachments from roads across the city. While making this point, I'm not saying there's no space for a man selling papayas. He's, after all, performing a public service. All we need to do it assign him the right space. Create vendor zones; help organize small businesses and make them properly accessible to the common man.
Creation of cycle tracks is a welcome move. We must all applaud the PMC for still having faith in one of the most non-polluting forms of personal mobility . But the biggest threat to cycle tracks is the encroachment of public space.And that's a problem which needs immediate fixing.
The road towards a greener and cleaner Pune does not need to be laid afresh. There's already one ­ we just need to protect it from people selling vegetables, illegally.
The writer is a Citizen Reporter from Vishrantwadi