Police to Launch ‘ FOOTPATH for PEDESTRIANS’ Drive Against Footpath Encroachments
Mangaluru: As any sensible and educated citizen of Mangaluru, nine out of ten will say that the construction of WIDER FOOTPATHS is a DUMB and UNSCIENTIFIC idea, one could think. However, if these wider footpaths did serve the real purpose to the real commuters/pedestrians, then it would be wrong on my part to draft this report. But if you look at all the new wider footpaths and the new bus shelters constructed as part of Smart City Development Projects by MSCL, they don’t serve a damn thing to the much-needed use of commuters, rather than benefiting the street vendors, hawkers, homeless, stray dogs- and in many places for illegal parking.
So, what is the use of constructing the wider footpaths or new regular footpaths if they are not used by real commuters? We are already seeing illegal parking of vehicles and encroachment along footpaths by shopkeepers and street vendors that have choked the City, thereby causing huge inconveniences to the public. Many citizens are questioning what is the use of spending lakhs/crores on these senseless Wide Footpaths when most of it is used for parking by four-wheelers and two-wheeler owners, street vendors, etc.
Just because our city’s engineers and other officials went abroad to learn about the infrastructure and city’s development in countries like the USA, UK, Singapore and many others, you simply can’t implement foreign infrastructure here in Kudla, where we have a huge population, heavy traffic on congested roads, and added to that most of the good space is taken over by hawkers/street vendors and beggars. It’s very rosy to look at Copenhagen-Amsterdam and romanticize it- but their socio-economic-cultural-governance is very different and rather impossible to replicate. We need to design roads/footpaths according to CONTEXT and not COPENHAGEN or CHICAGO?
When Team Mangalorean contacted the concerned persons in MSCL and MCC quite a few times, they said that they would look into it and action would be taken against the street vendors occupying the footpaths and people parking their vehicles illegally.- but as of now, no action has been taken, other than just promises. If MSCL or MCC is constructing these footpaths, it is their responsibility to see that no illegal street vendors occupy the footpaths, and also see that no vehicles are parked. First of all Smart City Mangaluru needs WIDER Roads & Not WIDER Footpaths! Period.
Having received lots of complaints from the public earlier and also during the Phone-In programme, Mangaluru Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal said the police will soon launch ‘FOOTPATH For PEDESTRIANS’ drive against footpath encroachments in the city. Responding to complaints during his phone-in programme about encroachments by street vendors, shops, and others, as a consequence of which pedestrians are put to hardship, Agrawal said once the Diwali festival was over, a continuous drive would be undertaken in association with the Mangaluru City Corporation. Besides putting pedestrians’ lives at risk by forcing them to walk on roads, such encroachments also cause traffic hurdles, he noted. Footpath encroachment around the Lady Goschen Hospital in Hampankatta would be cleared in a fortnight, he said.
Citizens alleged that roadside vendors and shopkeepers have occupied footpaths thereby leaving no space for pedestrians who are forced to walk on the streets. “On one side shopkeepers and street vendors have occupied the footpaths and on the other hand, people park their vehicles illegally on the roadside. The height is that first street vendors used to occupy the footpaths to display their goods, now people have been parking two-wheelers on these footpaths, A Few of the apartment residents nearby have many times apprised the MCC and other concerned authorities but they have failed to act on the ground.
This is not smart by the smart people behind it? Please wake up Smart City Officials to plan BIGGER circles and WIDER footpaths. Be realistic and pragmatic in solving problems, not building castles in the air Period.