Hyderabad: My foot! No safe paths for pedestrians in city

Hyderabad: Absence of footpaths on most city roads is putting the lives of people, especially senior citizens, at risk. Though the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and City police took up a special drive against encroachments and demolished illegal structures, footpaths were again encroached. This haunts the pedestrians. The pavements have vendors, parking, dump yards and unused toilets.

As there are no proper footpaths; encroachment on footpaths and pavements continues unabashed. According to the locals, pedestrians have no place to walk. As the whole footpath is covered with encroachments, garbage, parking, it is becoming difficult for them to walk and pass through a area safely. In fact, encroachment of footpaths and pavements is on the rise due to absence of stringent laws.

Pooja Adke, a student at Attapur, said "we pedestrians literally walk on the main roads to reach our final destination after landing at bus-stops. We are walking on bus bays. Footpaths are for people, not for shops and parking," she added.

In most city areas, pedestrians don't have a walkway. Pavements are encroached by hawkers, makeshift shops and even by illegal parking. This comes at a time when steps to impose fines are being initiated. Yet, encroachers are ruling the roost (pavements). Residents in major areas like Ameerpet, Banjara Hills, Punjagutta, Khairatabad, Lakdikapul, Koti, Abids, Nampally, Himayatnagar, Begum Bazar and in the Old City struggle to walk on roads.

Officials of GHMC and other wings might try their best to provide hassle-free roads for motorists. But citizens say they compromised on pedestrians' safety by failing to provide proper pavements. "Footpaths meant for pedestrians in the city are not serving their purpose as most shopkeepers encroach on them for displaying their merchandise, also for parking. Moreover, they have turned into dumping yards and toilets," said Asif Hussain of Tolichowki.

As a part of Operation ROPE, the city police intensified the drive and demolished hundreds of encroachments across the city. However, social activists blamed that the drive is only on major roads. Other roads across the city remain the same, quips Mohammed Ahmed, a social activist.

It has been observed in several areas that a majority of Metro stations lack pavement to walk. "When passengers get off from the Metro rail and station on the road there is no pavement to walk for pedestrians. Over a dozen people are usually seen struggling to walk on roads," said Vedakumar, a pedestrian at Ameerpet. However, there is no space to walk on road as during peak hours there is bumper- to-bumper traffic," he added.

The Metro Rail has encroached pavements to commercialise the space. In most other places, hawkers and shops have taken over footpaths; passengers seem stressed to walk on roads.

According to the GHMC officials, to enhance the safety of pedestrians and develop footpaths at all feasible locations, it spent Rs 60 crore for the construction and maintenance of footpaths from 2019-20 to 2021-22.

The civic body for 2022-23 earmarked Rs 31 crore for the construction of footpaths. Works with Rs 10 crore have already been completed, while the rest are in progress.