No footpath for pedestrians

People are forced to walk on the roads in the absence of pathways

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Bangalore Traffic Police have come together and identified seven prominent, problem-prone pedestrian junctions, that need urgent repair. But the two government bodies are clueless about who will fund this ambitious project? It will either have to be fully funded by the BBMP or they will have to find a sponsor. Neither the BBMP nor the traffic police seem to have a proper answer. 

The seven junctions are Trinity Circle, Madiwala, Siddapura junction, Havnoor junction near  Basaveshwara Nagar, Hebbal near Esteem Mall, Yeshwantpur junction near Metro and Lalbagh West Gate. 

 The BBMP claims that 230 kms of road have been taken up for repair and relaying pedestrian paths is an indispensable part of the plan. The officials with the Bangalore Traffic Police say that these seven junctions have been identified after assessing the traffic flow and pedestrian rush around them. 

BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana reasons that there are several people who wait at these junctions before crossing the road and sometimes, due to the lack of footpaths, they are forced to wait on the road and this could lead to an accident. “We have decided to do up the pedestrian paths with cobblestones rather than tiles because tiles prevent the percolation of water. Cobblestones absorb water and this is also good for recharging ground water,” explains Lakshminarayana. But he raises an important point when he observes that these footpaths are dug up when there is an underground cable laying work or pipe repair. “Roads are dug up by multiple government and private agencies, who don’t bother to relay them, after the work is completed. This also falls on us to do the footpath all over again. It’s an ongoing process,” he adds. 

Additional commissioner of police (traffic) B Dayananda says the programme for sprucing up the pedestrian paths, across the City, includes doing up the zebra crossings and putting barricades, to ensure people don’t cross at random places. “We will have to find sponsors for the programme if we fall short of funds. The entire programme will be completed in three months,” he says. More than the infrastructure work, Dayananda points out that riding on the footpath damages these pedestrian paths. The traffic police have registered 12,538 cases against footpath riding in 2012 and this year, till end of November, the figures have shot up to 18056. How does the traffic police intend to control this alarming trend? Dayananda states, “These riders damage the footpath and render them unfit for pedestrians, leaving them with no choice but to walk on the streets. The present fine of Rs 100 to Rs 300 is nothing to the offenders. The licence of those caught riding on pavements will be suspended.” The road user thinks that such offenders must not be spared and instead, dealt with in the most crude way. Navaneetham, a dancer, feels Bangalore has the worst pedestrian paths. “Wobbling stones, huge gaps in the footpath and wires sticking out from the underground are just some of the things that greet a pedestrian. The government authorities don’t use these pavement. Only the ordinary people suffer,” she says.  

Rajesh Radhakrishnan, a professional, observes, “The footpaths are uneven and stone slabs go missing in several places. You find people riding on those footpaths that are in good shape and vendors too don’t think twice before encroaching pavements, leaving no room. The pedestrians are forced to walk on the roads.”