Residents of Breach Candy have launched a citizen-led effort to track the removal of recurring footpath encroachments, arguing that civic action needs to be documented and followed through to prevent the same obstructions from returning.
Members of the Breach Candy Residents Forum and Breach Candy ALM, representing more than 750 families, have submitted a “BMC Footpath Report Card” to the municipal commissioner. They have suggested that the system could serve as a model for monitoring pedestrian infrastructure across Mumbai’s wards.
The proposed report card is designed to record the exact stretch affected, the nature of the problem, the action required, the responsible civic department and the expected completion date. Issues listed include hawkers and kiosks occupying pavements, parking, damaged or uneven footpaths, permanent structures, insufficient walking space, open drains, garbage, construction material and other obstructions.
A resident said that while the BMC’s Pedestrians First initiative was a welcome move, sustained enforcement was necessary.
“At present, Dhulabhai Desai Road has virtually no usable footpath space. With new footpaths scheduled for construction from Oct 2026, their purpose will not be achieved unless encroachments are removed and adequate space is designated for licensed hawkers as per BMC guidelines.
As responsible citizens, we have therefore prepared a BMC Footpath Report Card to document problems, assign responsibility, set timelines and verify action on the ground,” the resident said.
Road Divided Into Specific Stretches
Residents have divided Dhulabhai Desai Road into smaller sections, including stretches from Croma to the L&T site, L&T site to Cymroza Art Gallery, Cymroza to Anand Bhawan and Anand Bhawan to Swaminarayan Mandir, allowing individual pedestrian problems to be identified and tracked more precisely.
Residents believe maintaining a formal record of enforcement is essential to ensure accountability.
“Once the action taken is documented on paper and reported to the higher authorities, it creates accountability and makes it harder for the same encroachments to come back. There has to be a record of what action was taken against whom and whether the encroachment was removed permanently,” the resident said.
BMC Says Documentation Already Exists
A civic official said documentation is already part of the corporation’s enforcement process.
“Whenever action is taken. photographs of the action are documented. Notices are also issued wherever required before taking action. So there is documentation at every stage. We are also making every effort to ensure that those against whom action has been taken do not return to the same spot and recreate the problem,” the official said.
The residents’ initiative comes ahead of planned footpath works and reflects a broader demand for sustained enforcement, clear responsibility and measurable outcomes. Their report-card approach seeks to bridge the gap between clearing encroachments and ensuring that pedestrian space remains accessible over the long term.
Source: Times of India
