As part of its green initiatives, the city administration of Bhubaneswar has come up with a plan to ask each employee to either walk or cycle to work once a week. The Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL), Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) have together chosen Friday as the day of the week when all employees should get to work using a non-motorised means of transport (NMT)
Orders have already been issued to the employees to implement the plan with effect from 13 December. It is hoped that other organisations will also be inspired to implement a similar practice for the good of their workforce and for the environment.
This is a major step towards creating a sustainable smart city. Not only will the practice do a whole lot of good to the environment, it will also help the citizens improve their health and well-being. It is the city’s way of contributing towards reducing the effects of global warming and climate change.
The number of vehicles outnumber the human population in the city, which had been a cause of worry for the administration for some time now. While the 2011 Census put the population at around 10 lakh, the city has over 14 lakh vehicles plying on its roads. This led to the Government of Orissa to begin working on a low-carbon mobility plan (LCMP) in collaboration with German development organisation, Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
