Footpath cell fails to walk the talk

CHENNAI: When Dr Amit Saiya spotted two-wheeler riders using the pavement and riding on them as if it were a road, he took video footage of the traffic violation and sent it to civic authorities. It has been two weeks since the complaint was sent, via e-mail and sms to Chennai Corporation officials. ���We are yet to hear from the Corporation Commissioner, and when we called the given phone numbers, we were informed that the helpline was only for emergencies,��� alleged Dr Amit K Saiya, of footpathaudit@Chennai, a citizen���s forum striving for better footpath utilisation in the Pondy Bazaar area.
On August 11, TOI had carried a report where corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni had said, ���People are welcome to text message their complaints to our control centre, call the hotline or e-mail us.��� He had assured that complaints on footpath issues would be attended to, promptly.���Citizen���s audit can work only if there is positive response from the authorities,��� said Padmasini Krishnan, a resident of Raman Street, T Nagar, who frequently uses the footpaths in the area.
���Even as some semblance of order is brought on pavements, public misuse the cleared area and it is very difficult for pedestrians to walk,��� said Rajesh Chamandas, who has a 20,000 sq ft showroom in Rattan Bazaar area. ���Clear pavement space is crucial, especially in an emergency situation where we may have to evacuate people in a hurry. Authorities have to keep a constant vigil,��� he added.
When contacted, the corporation commissioner said that the hot lines were normally very responsive.
���The citizens may have called during the flood situation when our people were responding to emergency calls. Otherwise we get between 20 to 30 SMSes daily, with complaints ranging from display boards on trees to lamp posts being used to display public figures or on unauthorised road cutting. We will respond to the footpath complaint soon,��� he said.