KOCHI: In spite of authorities mooting projects for ensuring hassle-free transportation in the city, including mega ones like Metro rail, flyovers and smart roads, the condition of footpaths in the city remains pathetic.
Illegal parking, cables, petty shops and street vending, dislocated and broken slabs over drains, dumping waste – the issues a pedestrian has to face are numerous. “Cables by various telecom service providers and KSEB make a cobweb across footpaths. That forces us to walk on the roads in such stretches. Another issue we frequently face is unauthorised parking. Vehicles can be seen parked on footpaths, even on the one near the collector’s camp office,” said T N Prathapan, who has lodged complaints to various authorities seeking solutions to the problems faced by the pedestrians.
Riding motorcycles over footpaths along certain stretches where there are no barricades between the road and footpath also poses a threat to pedestrians. “Riding motorcycles over the footpaths along Mathrubhumi - Kaloor stretch is a regular sight. I had several times asked many bike riders not to drive over the pavement reserved for pedestrians. There have been even incidents where the riders scold me for protesting,” said 68-year-old Prathapan.
The absence of zebra lines is another hurdle. There had been proposals for constructing foot overbridges at busy junctions, but the authorities so far could not erect most of the overbridges. “Even the ones installed by the authorities are not pedestrian-friendly. The best example is the foot overbridges across Edappally- Vyttila stretch of the national highway. The staircases are steep and even a young person cannot climb it. The authorities should visit the foot overbridges in other cities before constructing the bridges here,” Prathapan said.
Recently, some telecom service providers have also started erecting poles on footpaths for drawing their cables. “In our division, we complained forcing them to remove it within a day. Still, we can see poles erected by several telecom companies and KSEB on footpaths at various places. We have given complaints to Cochin Smart Mission Limited (CSML) and Kochi Corporation, the agencies which reconstruct many roads in the city. But, there have not been any results so far,” said K S Dileep Kumar, president, Ernakulam Vikasana Samithi, an NGO.
Meanwhile, Mayor M Anil Kumar said the corporation has been adopting measures to ensure smooth movement of pedestrians through city roads. “We had held a couple of meetings with the telecom service providers to remove all the cables they have drawn illegally. Instructions have been given to the corporation officials to identify all the cables which were drawn with the consent of the local body,” Anil Kumar said.
“On the issue of street vendors, we have started steps to relocate them from footpaths. We are identifying street vending zones for relocating them. A special meeting of the council was held a few days ago to discuss the issue. We are giving utmost importance to pedestrians’ issues. We will sort out the difficulties one by one,” the mayor said.
