kolhapur a group of youths will undertake a painstaking nineday cycling journey from pune to kanyakumari on december 17 for promoting use of cycles to workplace in their journey the group plans to cover cities like islampur kolhapur udupi cochin and calicutaccording to the group cycling will not only lead to reduction in air pollution but will also promote healthy lifestyle so what prompted them to take up the 1571km long journey the recent cases of air pollution and its harmful effects said a group membertalking about their expedition leader of the group abhijeet kupate who hails from kolhapur said our cities have become gas chambers it is difficult to live a healthy life owing to rise in air pollution and vehicles play an important role in it earlier i used to come to office by car but i changed my mind and started using cycle i travel almost 10 km every day it saves me diesel bills worth of rs 80000 in just span of two years i then spread the idea in my companyhe added this in initiative to reach out to more people and make them aware about environment cycling and pollution as said by the father of nation mahatma gandhi be the change you want see in world we are optimistic about our journey we will visit schools colleges government and private offices there are seven participants in this journey including four from punekirtiraj desai who works in government polytechnic said we are on a mission to sensitise people about environment and health cycle is a personal weapon to fight against air pollution it also helps maintain good health the municipal corporation should lay down exclusive lanes cycle riders in cities it is our responsibility to maintain our environment clean and healthyhe added citizens are coming forward to save the environment it is a positive social change