BENGALURU: Footpaths in Bengaluru, if and where they do exist, are meant for anything but people to walk safely on. Footpaths in residential areas are used as permanent parking spaces for cars, autos or two-wheelers. People use footpaths to place tree pots. They use footpaths to dump construction material like bricks, bars, sand, waste materials and what not.
Rampant commercialisation in residential areas sees hundreds of offices, shops, godowns and others being set up, with customers parking their vehicles on footpaths, blocking safe and easy movement for pedestrians. This apart, as commercial buildings fail to provide adequate basement parking facilities as mandated by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), vehicles end up on footpaths.
“In residential areas, footpaths exist only on paper. A majority of footpaths are turned into permanent parking spaces for cars, two-wheelers and autos. The kerb stones placed at the edge of footpaths to separate walkways from roads are removed for easy entry of vehicles onto the footpaths. In many areas it is common to see permanent structures built by house owners on footpaths to protect their vehicles from rain and sun, without any sense of guilt that the pathways are meant for all and it’s not anyone’s personal property,” says Purushotham Shiva, a resident of Chamrajpet.
“Footpaths in the city should be walkable for all, including the elderly and those with knee issues. For this, footpaths need to be flat, without debris and building material piled on them and no parked vehicles. They need to be at a height from the road where the elderly can easily get on to them. It needs to be cladded with stones or concrete slabs, for easy maintenance, than having small tiles, which are not laid properly and keep coming out soon,” said Rekha Chari from the Malleswaram Swabhimana Initiative (MSI), a neighbourhood organisation that is working to improve the quality of lives of residents of the area.
Sharing her experience in the USA, she says, “We can’t help marvelling at their footpaths as I can walk so easily on them despite my knee issues.”
Vikram Rai, president, Bangalore Apartments Federation, says, “Having good footpaths encourages residents to walk to the neighbourhood store or to the nearby darshini or simply take a nice walk around. It encourages simple healthy activity, in the midst of most of our urban lifestyles which have come to be remote, digital and unhealthy.”
Rai says a couple of years ago the BBMP took a progressive step by allocating a part of a Rs 60 lakh budget provided to every ward committee towards development of footpaths – this policy needs to further evolve in the direction of more investments towards design and implementation of good quality footpaths all across Bengaluru. “But the subsequent step of utilising and maintaining the footpath for its intended purpose is also equally important”, he says.
“Footpaths are badly maintained and broken at many spots risking a twisted ankle or in many cases a fall resulting in broken bones. BBMP should have a clear plan of action to ensure good quality footpaths across the entire city and more importantly enforce the right of the pedestrian-citizen to use it exclusively without any fear,” Rai says.
VK Srivatsa, Secretary, Change Makers of Kanakapura Road, says, “Encroachment of footpaths is rampant on Kanakapura Road and adjoining roads. With so many commercial activities and none of them ready to create parking facilities inside their premises on the main road and residential areas, public footpaths are converted as their private parking place. Kanakapura Main Road from Sarakki to Nice Road and adjoining roads of Vasanthapura Main Road, Raguvanahalli 80 feet Road, Vajarahalli 100 feet Road, Konanakunte Main Road are all ideal examples of how rules are violated.”
While commercial establishments encroach footpaths, vegetable vendors, pani puri shops, other eateries, pan beeda shops and Nandini booths, all want to set up facilities, encroaching footpaths.
Footpaths are used to dump construction material forcing pedestrians onto the roads. “While BBMP spends lakhs of rupees for putting tiles on footpaths, it will be modified and converted within no time as per the vendors’ requirement,” Srivatsa says, adding that 95 per cent of footpaths are not usable, forcing pedestrians to walk on the roads, and risking being run over by speeding vehicles, he said.