BENGALURU: Skywalks in the city seem to be used only by advertisement agencies who put up their flexes. But to seniors and the differently-abled, walkways are pretty much unusable. Many of them are not equipped with escalators and elevators, rendering useless to the elderly, who are unable to climb up and down a fleet of stairs. While the BBMP has constructed around 30 skywalks this year, 34 are pending, and 35 are awaiting approval.
“The authorities need to assess the number of people actually using skywalks. They also need to look at the age group that is using it. The cost-analysis versus a productive usage by citizens needs to be determined. From my sporadic observation, there are not many people using them. Does this really justify the expenditure? The funds should, instead, be used to improve the quality of our roads and footpaths. From the safety angle, more signals need to be installed at such busy intersections,” said Rema Ramchandran, a 65-year-old member of the Silver Surfers club.
Ravi Kumar (60) feels that authorities should set their priorities straight. Instead of skywalks, he said that the need of the hour is obstacle-free pavements. “We need good roads, not just TenderSure Roads in certain places. In Koramangala, the richer the people are, higher is their plinth and they take the ramp from the edge of the road and consequently, the pavement in front of their houses becomes a steep incline. Sometimes, they use the pavement to park their three-four cars, or even store construction material,” said Ravi.
Had escalators/elevators been installed at skywalks, Asha Nadig feels that there would be a higher footfall. “It’s a viable solution if and only if there are escalators/elevators to offset the problem of climbing up and down steps. The skywalk near Christ University does have an elevator, but there's a perennial problem of electricity supply. Footpaths, as I've seen, are almost non-existent, thanks to road widening, metro construction etc. Given the huge space constraint, it'd be better to focus on making elevators or escalators in the proximity of the skywalk,” said Asha the 55-year-old.Somashekar, chief engineer, BBMP, was unavailable for comment.