The dread walk: Encroached footpaths and poor infra push pedestrians into harm’s way

PUNE While the Pune Municipal Corporation celebrated Pedestrians’ Day with much vigour on December 11, the condition of footpaths in the city is worrisome. Currently, within the Pune Municipal Corporation limit, a 750-kilometre footpath is available, however, PMC does not have data of how much out of it is actually in ‘used for walking.’ On Sunday, Hindustan Times visited Tilak road, Bajirao road, Bharati vidyapeeth police station, Katraj dairy chowk, Sadshiv peth, Laxmi roads, Sarabaug and Swargate to take a cognisance of the footpaths. Harshad Abhyankar, director, Save Pune Traffic Movement said, “Celebrating Pedestrians’ Day was one way of bringing awareness among people, now the PMC needs to speed up their work for the pending projects and along with it special care should be taken to keep footpaths free for walking.” Ranjit Gadgil, programme director at Parisar said “PMC needs to have footpaths on every route which has high volume traffic. PMC should relocate these fish sellers so they don’t face issues of livelihood and pedestrians will be free from risking themselves to walk on crowded roads.” Amol Paranjape, a daily commuter on Fergusson college road said, “Unless PMC finds a permanent solution for hawkers, people will not be able to walk freely on this road. Jungli Maharaj road is better managed then its neighbour road.” Box: Headline: Spelling doom for pedestrians Major issues at city footpaths Tilak road: Parked Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited buses Bajirao road: Pipes and parked vehicles on road Bharati Vidyapeeth Police station: parked vehicles Katraj Dairy chowk : Maharashtra State Electricity Board and transformer box Sadashivpeth: Grocery shops have kept stalls and gunny bags Laxmi road: Hawkers Sarasbaug: Hawkers Swargate: Fish market