BENGALURU: When citizens and institutions, come together there is nothing in the neighbourhood that they can’t improve.On Sunday, residents of Sanjaynagar held a protest against commercial establishments for occupying their footpaths. In a few hours, the BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad tweeted that the corporation has decided to develop a 3.5-km stretch with footpaths, dedicated parking and vending zones for around `7 crores.
While this may seem like an overnight victory, the residents had actually started work on making their neighbourhood pedestrian-friendly a year ago. They partnered with schools, collected feedback from everyone and even placed cycle stands at various locations.
A year ago, they initiated the ‘Walk to School’ programme with the cooperation of seven schools in the area. The idea was for students to walk to school or to commute without use of private vehicles.
Sanjaynagar resident, Subbaiah T S who is also the founder of Citizens for Sustainability (CiFOS), a group dedicated to improving neighborhoods, says, “Since a year, we have seen the number of cycles being used rise from from 20 at the beginning to around 200 presently. A number of people have also started walking. Measures such as putting up barricades of around 500m near schools where vehicles are not allowed were put forth. The idea was for parents to drop off children at the barricade so that there are no traffic jams near the institutions and people can walk freely.”
Seven schools are involved with the initiative namely - Daffodils English School, Shiksasagar High School, Shiksasagar Primary School, Akai Public School, SYA High School, Pavithra Nikethana English School and Sandeepani Niketan English School.
The residents also took pro-active steps like holding competition whereby opinions and feedback was elicited from residents based on initiative, on the difficulties faced by commuters, on issues such as walking on footpaths. Meanwhile, the residents also won a grant from an NGO whereby 40 cycle stands would be constructed for free, near parks and shopping areas.
Based on the responses residents prepared a document on how one can make pedestrian-friendly infrastructure in the neighborhood.
The culmination of all the above efforts has finally led to the collaboration of Sanjaynagar residents, CiFOS, BBMP and Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) to build a pedestrian-friendly footpath on a three-kilometer stretch of road on the Sanjaynagar Main road. “Once the project is implemented on the main road we will also push for development on smaller stretches,” adds Subbaiah. People from Indiranagar and Vidyanarayanapura have also shown an interest in similar projects, he says.