Cycle track to be ready by April along road where ex-Intel India head died in accident: Official

Nearly ten days after former Intel India country head Avtar Saini died after being hit by a cab while cycling on Navi Mumbais Palm Beach Road, civic authorities said a cycle track along the thoroughfare would be ready by next month.

Nearly ten days after former Intel India country head Avtar Saini died after being hit by a cab while cycling on Navi Mumbai’s Palm Beach Road, civic authorities said a cycle track along the thoroughfare would be ready by next month. Executive Engineer Girsh Gumasthe of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation said work is underway on a 7.5-km cycle track of which 5.24 km is expected to be ready for cyclists by April 11.

“The civil work on the 5.24-km stretch is almost complete and other ancillary works would be taken up soon,” he said. The cycle track will be 3 metres wide.

The route was initially planned to be 9.26 km long, but was shortened to 7.5 km due to certain hurdles, he said. The project is estimated to cost Rs 11 crore, he said. Saini (68) was hit by a speeding cab on the morning of February 28 when he was cycling along with fellow cyclists on Palm Beach Road in the Nerul area of Navi Mumbai. He was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him dead. His death had triggered outrage among cycling enthusiasts who rued lack of dedicated cycle tracks in towns and cities in Maharashtra. Thane MP Rajan Vichare inspected the work on the cycle track on Friday.