The Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Zameer Uddin Shah, on 1 August, announced that henceforth he would use a bicycle for commuting within the University campus and asked the students as well to follow the suit and say no to motor bikes. The drive for use of cycles had twin objectives, primarily for economising the funds and also for promoting cycling as a healthy exercise, said the VC in a statement. He further added that in most of the Western countries, especially the United States of America, there has been a major revival in the use of a bicycle in all the leading universities. This was a very healthy trend and deserved to be emulated in different universities in the country.
Bicycling had been the traditional mode of transport within the University campus till late 1980s and the VC is very much keen about restoring the past glory. He had banned motorbikes in the campus some months earlier.