The main concern in the city, as far as road traffic and people’s safety is concerned is how to discipline the vehicle drivers, to prevent jaywalking of pedestrians, what safety precautions should be adopted to prevent accidents and so on. Though the drivers are blamed for rash and negligent driving, by and large many factors contribute to the accidents which have become very common nowadays. Yes….pedestrians themselves are the problem—as they also take “risky steps” on the roads and many a time attempt to cross over to the other side even when the signal is green for the vehicles. And of course less said about the condition of the Mumbai roads the better, which of late have “contributed” to many fatal accidents. During monsoon especially, thanks to the craters and potholes, many drivers of two wheelers and also the pedestrians, become victims due to accidents. Every year we witness deaths due to serious accidents caused by such potholes. This is a serious matter as howsoever careful and disciplined a driver or a pedestrian is, these potholes become death traps.
But then, I see that the main crux of the problem today is lack of safe places for the people to walk on. I mean that today, the city has no open space like the footpaths, where people can safely walk on and also enable the motorists to have a “safer driving” too. Herein I have some suggestions:
Gone are the days or years when we used to have clean and wider footpaths whereon people used to walk and were safe from the speeding vehicles on the roads. I remember my school days when we’re advised by parents and elders, to walk only on the footpaths and not on the roads. Today I myself as a parent cannot advise my children to do so. Instead I am forced to tell them to walk on the available space on the roads carefully!
Today footpaths have literally vanished, as they have in fact become “FOOD PATHS”. Throughout Mumbai and elsewhere too, one just cannot find even a yeard of foot path for people to walk freely on. Footpaths are all occupied mainly by many unlicensed food stalls and hawkers, newspaper and books vendors and even govt. authorised milk-products booths or telephone booths for the handicapped. The food stalls freely use the footpath space to store water, even cooking, carry out cleaning activities etc. Besides, footpaths are also considered as “home” by many urchins who carry out all the chores on the footpath-spaces around them. They are also used to park vehicles like cycles, hawkers’ vehicles, bikes etc. And, in many places, alongside the footpath one can see as many “vehicle repair garages”.
It’s easier today to start a “paani puri or a sandwich or a vada paav joints” right on the footpath. All you need is a table, a stool, and the items that are needed for your “business”. These vendors prepare items in the most unhygienic manner, pollute the places around and block pedestrian movements and become a cause for the traffic hurdles. People, are forced to walk only on the roads, at great risk to their lives. Even motorists feel harassed by the occupants of the footpaths and the people who are forced to negotiate speeding vehicles and vice-versa.
The solution lies in the BMC authorities and the government taking earnest steps to remove all the vendors from the footpaths and make footpaths totally free for the people to use. This will also result in disciplined traffic on the roads. But then as long as hafta and corruption thrive, the BMC officials and other authorities will only keep turning a blind eye on all these illegal activities as removal of these vendors and stoppage of activities, will not bring in the “much-wanted-revenue” for themselves! It all requires the will power and determination and one honest officer in the ward concerned can certainly do wonders. High time a PIL is filed and the high court directive is obtained to stop all activities on footpaths and make them free for the people.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
