Christ College Road is undoubtedly one of the most happening places in Bangalore city. With Christ University and the Forum mall in the vicinity, the flow of crowd is continuous, making the need of proper footpaths even more.
When City Express visited the stretch of Christ College Road, the response was mixed. There are areas where proper footpaths were in place but again there are areas which lack footpaths absolutely and have been turned into garbage dumping yard.
Shockingly, more than 5000 cases of footpath encroachments have come to the limelight when traffic department took a tough stand on the issue. This locality too is also not free from the nuisance.
Sujith Appaiah, a student from Christ College says, "As you walk from the college towards SG Palya, you have no option but to walk on the road. First of all, the width of the footpath is less, and above that, small shops have encroached considerable amount of space, leaving no option for the pedestrians but to walk on the roads which have heavy vehicles travelling all the time." He further adds, "The traffic in this locality is high and there are no specific timings. At any given point of the day, the traffic escalates. In such a situation, we need footpaths to ensure the safety of pedestrians. "
Voicing a similar opinion Kalyani Pandit, who works in a BPO and is a regular visitor of this area said, "The footpath opposite to the college stinks and it is impossible to walk on it. Although the civic workers clear the garbage every day, the regular dumping of the waste has spoiled the footpath, rendering it unusable for the pedestrians."
In fact, in some parts the footpath was almost levelled to the road and as usual, there are broken slabs and craters.
"The maintenance department responsible for the footpath seem to be least bothered. And why not, they are more worried about the roads, especially because it is a busy stretch and one small problem will escalate into a big issue," said Ramesh G, who resident here.
The area corporator K Mahesh Babu promised City Express to revert back on the issue of footpaths in the locality, but he avoided answering any questions.