Police clear pavements, plan pedestrian safety

Concerned over pedestrian safety and encroachment of  pavements/foothpaths, the City police have planned to launch a concerted campaign to educate citizens on the importance of using pavements/foothpaths while undertaking a massive drive against those encroaching pavements.

According to Additional Commissioner (Traffic & Security) M A Saleem, a series of short films on pedestrian safety and stressing the importance of using pavements has been completed, besides pamphlets and advertising posters on the subject.

Stating that the campaign will get underway in the later part of June, Saleem observed that the move was being initiated against the backdrop of 298 accident deaths in the first five months this year, of which 158 victims were pedestrians. The percentage of pedestrians killed was nearly 53, which forced the traffic police to seriously address the issue of pedestrian safety, he added.

Following a drive against encroachment in the last four months, the City police, he said, identified and booked 42,120 cases against various violations. As a result, a majority of pavements are encroachment-free at present, he claimed.

The police booked 25,523 cases against those who had parked vehicles on pavements. As many as 8,739 cases were booked against drivers driving vehicles on pavements. Many roadside vendors and hawkers and a few businessmen had encroached pavements for keeping their wares. The police identified such stretches and booked 7,552 offenders and collected hefty fines from them, Saleem said. The police also booked 306 people, who were found to have permanently encroached the pavements and arrested them, besides collecting fine.

“We wanted to adopt zero tolerance and have ensured that pavements are in a better condition to be used. We are in the final stage of completely clearing the encroachments. Our work will take a couple of weeks and we will educate citizens to use pavements once all stretches are in a better condition,” he added.