VIJAYAWADA: Pedestrians in Vijayawada are perpetually at risk of being mowed down by a passing vehicle as they are forced to walk on the road and not footpaths, for the very simple reason that there is no space on footpaths for them to walk on.
Wherever footpaths were developed by the civic body, they have been encroached upon not only by commercial establishments but also by government offices.
As per official estimates, around 45 pedestrians lost their lives (till August) in the city due to road accidents while in 2018, the figure stood at 145 for the entire year.
The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) which has developed footpaths on Mahatma Gandhi Road and Eluru Road for the convenience of pedestrians by spending crores of rupees remains a mute spectator and fails to take punitive action against footpath encroachers especially petty vendors, tell stall and fruit stall owners.
Though residents and walkers association have brought the issue to notice of the civic body authorities, they conduct nominal checks from time to time penalise few encroachers but fail to discern a permanent solution to the problem.
“Increase in vehicular traffic coupled with low compliance with the authorities leading to traffic violations, poor road infrastructure and encroachment of footpaths are the factors responsible for pedestrian deaths in the city,’’ said Taxpayers Association secretary MV Anjaneyulu.
He suggested the civic body officials and other concerned departments to focus on the issue and take necessary steps for making footpaths accessible to the pedestrians.
“The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation should follow the Centre’s guidelines and develop footpaths in the city of 5 feet height and 5 feet width and make it accessible to the public,” he added.
“Following a series of complaints from civic associations and the public, we conducted surprise checks a couple of months ago and penalised a few traders who encroached the footpaths on Eluru Road,’’ municipal corporation city planner K Lakshmana Rao said to TNIE.
To address the issue, the civic body has decided to join hands with the police in addressing the traffic problem which is rampant in the city.
The police officials are also preparing a list of vulnerable locations across the city, where the maximum number of road accidents involving pedestrians take place.