Pavements get better — for encroachers

CHENNAI: Aware of the risks of getting knocked down, Vyomesh Jha still finds jogging on the roads of Nanganallur less cumbersome than on the newly-laid wide pavements. “There are obstructions every five feet on the footpath,” said Jha.

Despite attempts by Greater Chennai Corporation to evict squatters, footpaths remain encroached. A few years ago, these illegal occupants shrinking public space in Chennai forced a rethink by civic body officials and they concurred on wider pavements as a solution. But encroachments found bigger avenues to proliferate on these ‘model’ footpaths as could be seen in Nanganallur, KK Nagar and Besant Nagar.By now the reason is well known: Zero enforcement.

“Unless you evict stalls and tow away vehicles, footpaths will always be out of reach for pedestrians,” said S Jayaraman, a resident of T Nagar.

However, one neighbourhood has bucked the trend. Harrington Road, whose footpaths the corporation redesigned for`10 crore in 2014-15, has pavements where plants and flower vases welcome pedestrians. The corporation may have laid the footpaths, but the residents have kept squatters at bay. “Had we depended on the corporation for maintenance and enforcement, this footpath would have been long taken over by encroachers,” said a resident.Its status as an affluent neighbourhood helps Harrington Road because the residents can pay to keep the footpath free of encroachments. Residents here said five ‘marshals’, each of whom take a salary of `10,000 per month, keep an eye out for encroachments and report violations to police. “We don’t reach out to corporation for minor repairs on the footpath. We fix it ourselves,” a resident said.Notwithstanding this stinging assessment of its capabilities, the corporation has pushed for more footpath redesign proposals. Civic body sources said walking space along 25km of bus route roads in the T Nagar smart city area like GN Chetty Road and Usman Road would be renovated and converted into ‘social zones’. Another proposal to redesign 23 T Nagar streets at a cost of `15 crore is also underway.Residents like Jayaraman said such projects would be futile if the end users did not benefit. But urban development associate Nashwa Naushad of Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) said despite the lack of enforcement, infrastructure was necessary. “Footpaths may not serve the pedestrian fully. But that should not be held against the project. An infrastructure is an initiation to future enforcement,” she said.The corporation said active enforcement required coordination with traffic police. “We engage the traffic police to address the gaps in coordination and communication. There are still things to be sorted out before we can be effective as a team,” a corporation official said.
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