Returning footpaths to those who deserve it most

The “Safe Footpath Campaign” launched by the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) from July 1 is a welcome initiative for a city like Bengaluru where pedestrians’ right to walk has been violated with utter disdain by encroachers. These include a large number of vendors, sellers and building owners. On its first day (on July 1) itself, the Authority’s squads cleared 75 kilometres of footpaths. The campaign, coming as it does soon after the Supreme Court’s June 26 ruling endorsing the right to walk being an integral part of the right to free movement, seeks to rid 1,700 km of city’s footpaths of illegal occupants and render them walkable for residents.

The ruling had held that the right to free movement was guaranteed under Article 19(1) (d), read in conjunction with the right to life. The ruling referring to pedestrian vulnerabilities had noted that pedestrian deaths in India had surged by nearly 163% between 2015 and 2024. Bengaluru’s footpaths have become a haven for not only hawkers and vendors but for activities ranging from garbage dumping to piling construction material and for parking vehicles of all varieties. 

It is not uncommon for an average pedestrian to come up against temporary sheds, extended staircases,poles for unauthorized street advertisement, pile of wires overhanging heads of the users, unused pipes and coils of ducts left to rot by civic agencies, optic fibres jutting out of their ducts, debris of demolished structures, florists, kiosks of Lidkar and Hopcoms and Nandini milk parlours. Latest to join them are public latrines installed in the wake of Swachch Bharat Abhiyan.

In some areas, the latter part of the evening even offers the spectacle of pavements turning into kitchens and dining spaces. Adding more to the chaos are thousands of eateries that pop up during the lunch recess outside offices providing an inexpensive option to those who cannot afford a meal in city restaurants. Not alone these, advertisers show more than the usual interest to install multiple bus shelters where just one would be enough. And then there are cattle chewing the cud lazily.

Cumulatively, these have only added to the hassles an average pedestrian comes face to face on a daily basis. The safe footpath campaign is all likely to impact the livelihood of hundreds of hawkers and vendors who will be displaced in the aftermath of the clean-up operations. The administration must have anticipated it. There have been proposals to create spaces for them at frequent distance as they represent an essential feature of business in India.

Due thought must be spared to offer them alternative space within city where they cater to a vast clientele. It is quite natural to expect questions to be raised against free parking of vehicles on roadsides by owners when petty hawkers are being asked to vacate their positions on footpaths. It is time the city fathers took note of this menace too. It is safe to presume that of the city’s more than a crore automobiles, 90 percent occupy public roads, pathways and pavement during the stationary period of their life.