For all the reasons there are to love Namma Bengaluru, there is at least one to hate it. That reason links the question of citizen’s safety with the question of the efficiency of the state government and the civic agencies — lack of footpaths. Mind you, it’s not just a civic issue, it can be a political one.
There has been a lot of talk about “freedom under threat” lately. But if you observe people in Bengaluru, one would be impressed by the “demonstration of freedom” by them while walking on the roads and impinging on the rights of motorists while threatening their own lives. A closer observation would reveal this “freedom” of people to walk on the roads (without any law enforcement interfering) is directly linked to the apathy and indifference of the government bodies who have failed to provide safe footpaths to them.
Look even closer, and with a political mind. Among the largest cities in the world, Bengaluru has a population of about 1.4 crore (one-tenth India’s population). And it lacks footpaths.
This must be looked at as a sheer violation of the rights of citizens granted under the Indian Constitution. And this violation of the rights is by the state government, and the civic agencies under it, for failing to provide footpaths to safeguard the rights of people to move freely and safely. A troubling thought is that the same could easily replay in other cities of our state.
Pedestrians are forced to walk on the roads on which Bengalurean motorists (already infamous for their indiscipline, negligence and rash ways) rule the roost. Plain logic cannot miss the threat to lives, which in innumerable cases have converted into fatalities, the victims turning into statistics in the documents of various relevant departments concerned.
This (prefer to call it “freedom”?) is a direct violation of the people’s rights granted in Part III of the Indian Constitution, the “Fundamental Rights”. Right up front is the threat to their right to live, guaranteed in the Fundamental Rights in Article 21 — the right to life and personal liberty. Then there is Article 19(1)(d), which guarantees the right to move freely throughout the territory of India.
People walk on the roads because there is not a footpath in the city that can be defined as one. Walking on the roads, while exercising the right granted under Article 19(1)(d), is a direct threat to life, right to which is granted under Article 21 of the Constitution. All this is happening because of the state government’s failure.
Strange and ironic it may seem that the state government is ruled by Congress, which has been screaming sore at the BJP-ruled Centre for threatening the values and robust democratic principles of the Indian Constitution.
Why then are pedestrians in Bengaluru deprived of that very basic fundamental right to life, which properly designed footpaths can guarantee? Can’t they be helped to reach their destinations on foot safely without facing the threat of being killed or maimed by vehicles on the roads on which they are forced to walk for lack of footpaths? Isn’t it the obligation of the state to preserve fundamental rights of the citizens?
Citizens, on their part, need to be conscious of the fact that safe, well-designed footpaths are indispensable. They need to know how crucial they are for their own safety, to live — the right to life, from where all other rights get their relevance; without which there is nothing else. That is the importance of safe footpaths in a crowded Bengaluru….and other cities which show signs of going the Bengaluru way. They also need to remember that the next time members of the political dispensation start talking about welfare measures, ask them what they are doing about the most crucial one, the footpaths.
It may appear trivial, even comical. That is because we have conditioned ourselves to live in spaces without footpaths. We are used to it. We assume it is alright and safe to be on the roads, even fight with motorists if they as much as nudge us while we invade their domain. But we fail to realise that it is happening because successive governments — irrespective of which party with whichever ideology — have steadfastly and determinedly ignored footpaths. The chaos of people walking on roads alongside the vehicles you see in Bengaluru today is because of that. It’s time for the citizens to demand! It is your right!