The campaign on footpaths has revealed yet another issue that everyone faces on a regular basis. The lack of sincerity and indifference to problems faced by the general public is what every Bangalorean has a problem with. Ask people about the city's footpaths, and they all complain along the same lines. "Who will we complain to? Who will listen to us? We are adjusting somehow."
For a change, the footpath just outside Reliance supermarket at Hennur Cross is actually wide enough to walk on, but true to the norm, it vanishes somewhere in between, to give way to a crater filled with rubbish.
As soon as you cross that stretch and step back onto the footpath, you have to encounter yet another huge opening, but this time there is a 'valid' reason for it — maintenance and repairs, of course. So, how long has this footpath been left in a shambles? "Just a year or two," says Paramashiva, a cobbler who sits right next to the opening.
This leads to the pedestrians having to step off the 'footpath' and brave the stream of traffic that can only accompany a busy intersection like the one at Hennur Cross.
Kalpana Venkatraman, a resident of the area states, “It is certainly unsafe, and in this rainy season, it is more of a problem than ever.” Ritika C, another resident and passerby says “Footpaths in the city are certainly vanishing and this is a huge problem for pedestrians. I feel that the government should appoint a person for each area, specifically, to take care of problems of this sort.” Until things change, people will simply adjust and move on, child in one hand, shopping bag in the other, hoping that they get home safe.
B Govindaraju, the corporator of this ward, remained unreachable.