A cyclist died after being hit by an unidentified vehicle in New Town on Sunday morning, police said.
An officer of the Bidhannagar Commissionerate said that the man was spotted lying on the Major Arterial Road along with the bicycle by passing motorists who alerted the police.
The police identified the man from an identity card on him. Balai Bairagi was a resident of Jagatpur in Rajarhat, the police said. He worked as a security guard.
He was on his way to work on the cycle at the time of the accident, the police said.
“It seems that he was hit by a heavy vehicle. We are scanning CCTV footages to track the vehicle,” a police officer said.
A police officer of the New Town traffic guard said bicycles were not allowed on the Major Arterial Road, a six-lane high speed corridor that connects New Town with airport on one end and Salt Lake on the other.
New Town has more than 20km of graded bicycle tracks on the service lanes and inside block roads.
An official of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) that has built the tracks said that they specifically did not set up any on the MAR as it is a high traffic zone and cyclists are not allowed on it.
However, everyday cyclists can be spotted riding down the MAR.
Most don’t stick to the left and many can be seen riding right down the middle of the road and allegedly care little for traffic rules.
“During peak hours we often have to physically run after cyclists to prevent them from getting on the MAR. We had also started prosecuting them but it has had a little effect,” said an officer.
According to the officer, a police team was alerted by a passing motorist that a man was lying on the road in front of Eco Park.
The team took the man to the Bidhannagar sub-divisional hospital where he was declared dead.
