Pedestrian safety: Authorities wake up, to act finally

HUBLI: Crossing a street should not involve putting one's life at risk. The authorities concerned — the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) and the police department — are now realizing the importance of this. The corporation has decided to clear the footpaths of vendors while the police department plans to impose fine on motorists who park their vehicles on footpaths.
Rampant encroachment of footpaths by vendors and parked vehicles has been the bane of the pedestrians. Traffic should not be the only prioritized function of street space, say urban experts. Though HDMC is creating hawker zones to house the street vendors, experts have suggested that the authorities should monitor footpaths regularly to ensure that the vendors don't bounce back.
Hubli city has about 1,500 km length of roads, including the main and interior roads, but the length of footpaths is just about 26km, which is 1.73% of its road length.
HDMC has marked 25 hawker zones in the twin cities, of which Hubli city has 18 zones. Sign boards marked with white paint have been kept ready in the recognized zones. The authorities are installing kiosks in the zones to house drinking water units to help hawkers and customers.
M N Puttannavar, senior market inspector, said the court has set December 16 deadline to shift the hawkers to the recognized zones. He said all measures have been taken to create the zones and that licences were being issued to the hawkers to do their business at the zones.
Meanwhile, the state government has sought an action plan from the HDMC to sanction the special grant of Rs 100 crore for the third time for the development of the twin cities. Under this grant, HDMC is giving priority to the laying of footpaths, repairing the old ones and for maintenance.
Ramandeep Chowdhary, commissioner, HDMC, said: "We are conducting a survey to see where new footpaths are needed and where to upgrade the existing ones. The zonal-level assistant commissioners are preparing estimates in this regard.''
The Hubli-Dharwad police commissionerate too is making all efforts to free up footpaths for pedestrians. A R Badiger, ACP traffic, said: "We are aware of the two-wheeler parking on footpaths. We are keeping a watch and booking violators.''
Along with the traffic police, civil police daily vacates the street vendors from footpaths. But the vendors return the moment police go away, he added.
Expert quote
"Regular inspection and quick action should be given top priority to allow free flow of foot traffic. All the encroachments have to be cleared regularly. Creation of hawker zones will solve the problem. Wherever there is heavy vehicular movement, footpaths should have grills.
V S Pawar | Retired assistant commissioner, HDMC