Residents of Chandivali have carried out an independent audit of pedestrian infrastructure across the neighbourhood, highlighting obstructed and narrow footpaths, illegal parking, dumping and other barriers that they say continue to affect pedestrian movement despite the BMC’s ‘Pedestrian First’ campaign.
The Chandivali Citizens Welfare Association (CCWA) conducted the audit on Tuesday across four major stretches connecting Chandivali Nahar, Lake Homes, Raheja Vihar and surrounding residential townships. The roads serve nearly 200 buildings and experience significant traffic and pedestrian movement.
“We have been suffering because of the condition of these roads and footpaths. After the new BMC commissioner announced the Pedestrian First campaign, we kept reading about hundreds of footpaths being cleared of encroachments. We wanted to see how this drive was actually taking shape in our neighbourhood,” said Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder of CCWA.
According to residents, some footpaths narrowed to just 1.4 metres. The audit identified illegal parking, hawkers, stalls, dumping, encroachments, staircases extending from slum structures and large hoardings as recurring obstacles.
Residents also raised concerns over road design, including kerbs they said were considerably higher than the 150-mm standard cited under Indian Roads Congress guidelines.
On IRB Road towards Hiranandani Gardens, residents identified a nearly 200-metre section near a bus stop that they said had effectively become a dumping area. The stretch also serves four schools and a hospital.
“There is no pedestrian infrastructure, so people take out their cars. When they do that, it leads to more traffic. Making footpaths better and walkable will not just help pedestrians but also traffic,” Makkar said.
Problems were also reported on DP Road No. 9, Khairani Road and Chandivali Farm Road, including stalls, merchandise spilling onto roads, hoardings and poorly accessible footpaths.
The CCWA plans to submit photographs, findings and recommendations to the municipal commissioner and L Ward officer.
“These are the lifelines of high-rise townships and this is their condition,” residents said.
BMC assistant commissioner, L Ward, Annil Jadhav said, “We are continuously removing encroachments and working to make footpaths more walkable. If the CCWA audit has identified any remaining encroachments, we will take note of them and remove them.”
“We expect the BMC to pay heed to the audit and make things right,” Makkar said.
Source: Hindustan Times
