Pedestrians edged out

A stroll around the Greater Kochi area will give the impression that roads and allied infra are chiefly for automobiles, with little consideration for pedestrians. Initiatives by agencies such as Cochin Smart Mission Ltd. to provide pedestrians their rightful due through a network of standardised footpaths have been limited to a handful of roads in the city hub. Individuals and NGOs campaigning for pedestrian rights lament that the government and its agencies have not prioritised the safety of pedestrians, although 1,000 pedestrians lost their life in road accidents in Kerala in the past one year. Speaking of the innumerable hassles pedestrians face at every step in Kochi, Yogi Joseph, a campaigner for pedestrian and cycling rights, who recently undertook a walk through footpaths and road shoulders beneath the 25-km Aluva-Pettah Kochi Metro corridor, says that the footpaths and cycle tracks in the vicinity of metro stations lack continuity. Pedestrian audit A comprehensive pedestrian audit in 2012 by the city-based think tank Centre for Public Policy Research, covering MG Road, Ernakulam South and Kaloor, found that pedestrians had to jostle for space thanks to encroachments, undulations, broken slabs, garbage heaps, transformers, and Their steep elevation and lack of continuity made walking a nightmare.