Like the many roads in Gandhinagar, 2nd Main too has fallen prey to encroachment by small-scale vendors and piling garbage. This has irked pedestrians who use the route regularly. “Many make-shift shops, who do roaring business, do not bother about passersby. They occupy most of the space on both sides of the footpath. Shops extending their businesses upto the footpath is a common sight too,” says Subhash K, a resident of the locality. “It is high time city authorities take steps to reclaim footpaths and clear the space for pedestrians.”
Suhasini, who works in Majestic area, says, “Gandhinagar is one of the busiest areas in Bangalore. With people from all across the State and elsewhere landing at Majestic, they often walk around Gandhinagar. Though hawkers are obvious culprits, it is the shopkeepers here who often break the rules by keeping their stuff on display on footpaths. They are not satisfied with the space they have in their stores. Usually, what I see and have heard is that the beat traffic policeman takes his daily ‘commission’ to ignore these encroachments. Till the time the government brings in stringent rules, these issues will not be sorted out.”
According to Gopal Krishna, corporator of the area, repeated drives against encroachment are not yielding the results they would have liked them to. He says, “Time and again, we go on rounds and make sure these vendors vacate the place. But within two days, they come right back and set up their stalls. As a corporator of BBMP, I alone can’t take decisions. We need help from the police, if we need to take strict action. Secondly, for many vendors, this being the only means to earn their livelihood, we can’t chase them away constantly. However, I will consider the problems faced by the pedestrians and will look into the matter.”