MUMBAI: Recently, while returning from physiotherapy for an injured shoulder, Matunga resident K A Viswanathan slipped on a footpath on the narrow Telang Road. Fortunately, he saved himself from injury. But he blames his almost-accident on the entrance ramp of a new building that had taken over the footpath. "Pedestrians have no option but to use the road," he said. "One has to be watchful at every step."
The incident highlights an emerging threat to pedestrians on city roads. Most new constructions raise the plinth level much higher than the adjoining road and then turn the footpath outside the gate into a slope down to the road. The high plinth helps prevent waterlogging in the property - but the steep exit creates a hurdle for pedestrians walking on the footpath.
"Some slopes are so steep that senior citizens, children and women find it difficult to walk on them," said Nikhil Desai, an activist based in Matunga. "So they get down on the road and risk their lives." While the municipal rules allow for a little slope, the BMC must be clearer about what that means, he added. "They have to define what they consider as little," Desai said. "Ramps are almost 45 degrees nowadays."
Ideally, properties should not build such ramps beyond their premises, said experts. The Indian Road Congress (IRC) guidelines, which all cities are supposed to follow, state that the pavement should be 150mm higher than the road, and that it should continue at the same level across side streets and property entrances for smooth pedestrian movement.
"All the standards are defined in manuals, and also included in the tendering process," said Anuradha Parmar, executive director of Urban Design Research Institute, Mumbai. "However, the problem lies in enforcement of guidelines, especially because work happens in a piecemeal manner and with multiple contractors."
A senior official of BMC's Development Plan department claimed that the municipality does not give permissions for such ramps. "Only the BMC has rights over footpaths," the official said, adding that ward officials are responsible for ensuring such ramps are not built.
"If at all, if somebody wants a ramp to facilitate movement of vehicles, the builder should get a temporary iron ramp," said activist Santosh Daundkar, who has in the past forced the BMC to initiate action against illegal ramps. "They cannot encroach on the footpath, which is a public property. But nobody in the BMC monitors these things." The Bombay high court is currently hearing a PIL on the state of footpaths in Mumbai and has asked the government and BMC to explain its policy on pedestrian infrastructure.
Street design guidelines, including the IRC, have rules for design of kerb ramps - the gentle slopes that allow wheelchair users to cross the road. The guideline for the gradient of this slope is usually not more than 1:15, said an official. "The principle for designing a slope from a footpath to the road is that a wheelchair person should be able to propel themselves on their own, without sliding back," the official added.
Mumbai's narrow pavements and small plots can present a challenge for pedestrian-and-disabled friendly ramps, there are design solutions, said experts. "Architects are good at finding solutions but the constraints have to come from government," said Parmar.
Saurabh Jain and his colleagues at World Resources Institute in India, who have worked on draft street design guidelines for the city, have come up with designs for pedestrian-friendly property entry and exit when space is a constraint. For instance, where space is less, said Jain, the footpath crossing the property could be designed to slope down very gently to the road level before the gate and then slope up again once past the gate, he said. "So the pedestrian never has to get off the footpath."
It's not just new buildings that are creating these slopes, added Jain. Even older buildings find they have to raise the level of their property to keep up with rising road levels so their compounds don't become waterlogged. When the property level is raised, a steep ramp is built from the gate to the road. "Most of the time, buildings think the footpath outside is their property," he said. "And their priority is vehicle entry not the continuity of footpath."
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