Heegu Unte -Part V! Pavements Under Siege by Parked Vehicles and Street Vendors
Mangaluru: From time to time we hear MCC officials promises to improve the city, and newspapers report that an effort is to be made to improve footpaths (sidewalks, pavements) to benefit pedestrian movement. But there has been hardly any evidence on the ground of results from either initiative. Any such initiative needs commitment and a well-prepared approach to deal with the large variety of encroachments and misuses that have been allowed to develop. A well-formulated policy is needed to underpin the approach, and commit manpower and resources. The approach has to start with a list of the types of encroachment. Quick-fix solutions are not available for many of these. Staff entrusted with the mission will find it impossible to deal with many of the important types of encroachment without well thought out rules and the support of the bureaucracy, the political establishment and local communities. Otherwise any effort will deteriorate into a cosmetic effort that leaves the underlying sores untreated.
Apart from increasing “Hawkers” occupying part or whole of the width of the pavement, now we can see a bunch of Vehicles parked. In a City like Mangaluru, it is very common to see vehicles, both two-wheelers and four-wheelers being parked on the pavement/footpath. At times the entire footpath is blocked by these parked vehicles making it impossible for the pedestrians to walk on it. The pedestrians have very little option but to walk on the road thereby putting their lives in danger. At times it appears that the pavements are under siege by parked vehicles as seen in the pics in the report.
Pavements are meant for pedestrians to walk on, even though in many cities/towns a part of the pavement have been earmarked for vehicular parking to tackle the problem of lack of parking space. This does not mean that the entire pavement should be blocked by the parked vehicles. The funny part is that MCC has constructed many footpaths recently under the Smart City project, and most of these footpaths are either been used for parking or street vendors doing their illegal business. Just look at the new footpath on the Kankanady-Valencia road stretch- a bunch of street vendors and mobile canteens have already set up their street business.
This is likely to be the first type of encroachment to be tackled, often by strong arm methods. In many cases the hawkers have become long established features of the locality, and are well patronized by the local community and/or visitors who find the services convenient. But the nuisance effects begin to dominate, especially when more hawkers come to exploit the situation, and action needs to be taken to eliminate or regulate the activities. What should be done? Eliminate the encroachments completely? Or allow them in a regulated manner? And if the latter, what rules need to be followed in order not to give room for accusations of discriminatory action, collusion or corruption?
Vehicles getting repaired – Perhaps worse than the above, is encroachment by vehicles on pavements in front of establishments providing repair or installation services to two and four wheelers. It is not only that passage is inhibited, but it is also made hazardous by oil patches, nails, oil rags, etc. Most of these auto garages are located very close to the road, and have hardly enough place inside their shops to work on vehicles- so all the repair work is done on the footpaths or streets. Has the MCC noticed this- if they, nothing much has been done. This is the most blatant example of public space being despoiled for private gain. There can be no compromise on this type, even though it may be claimed as a desirable service. Pavements are for people only, not for vehicles.
Allowing vehicle parking (whether two-wheelers or four-wheelers) definitely will lead to harassment to pedestrians sooner or later, and will be hard to regulate. Parking vehicles on the pavement, completely blocking pedestrian passage, is widely prevalent. On these streets, other encroachments such as shops extending on to the pavement, and vehicle repair activities are also quite common. There is no alternative to completely eliminating these encroachments. A determined effort to clear the encroachments will be needed. Parking can be regulated by reserving one side of the street for parking, and permanent parking can be permitted.
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- Heegu Unte, Part-1! Mangaluru-‘SMART CITY’-What? Name it as ‘FLOATING CITY’!
- Heegu Unte-Part2! Why STILL Garbage on Streets, When AWHCPL does Door to Door Pick-Up
- Heegu Unte-Part III? Cops ‘Install’ Traffic Signs, Motorists ‘Ignore’ Them?