Sr citizen’s death sparks renewed demands for safe footpaths in Nepeansea Road

Nepeansea Road is a key 1.74-km arterial road connecting Malabar Hill to Pedder Road. But despite its importance, it suffers from serious pedestrian infrastructure gaps. Footpaths are either missing, discontinuous, or obstructed by hawkers, stalls, and even bus stops

MUMBAI: In August, a 75-year-old lost her life on Malabar Hill’s B G Kher Road after being trapped between a BEST bus and a parked car. Her death, which occurred on account of the road lacking continuous footpaths, has galvanised Nepeansea Road residents into actively monitoring road-concretising works to ensure timely execution, quality control, and the inclusion of pedestrian-friendly features such as contiguous footpaths. To this end, the Nepeansea Road Citizens’ Forum (NRCF) recently submitted a formal design blueprint from Rungta Lane to Priyadarshini Park to the BMC.

Mumbai, India – 29, Sept 2025: No footpath on the road side, at Nepean Sea Road, in Mumbai, India, on Monday, Sept 29, 2025. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

Nepeansea Road is a key 1.74-km arterial road connecting Malabar Hill to Pedder Road. But despite its importance, it suffers from serious pedestrian infrastructure gaps. Footpaths are either missing, discontinuous, or obstructed by hawkers, stalls, and even bus stops.

“There are portions of Nepeansea Road where there are no footpaths at all but cars are parked in these stretches,” said architect and NRCF chairperson Rahul Kadri, who has designed the new proposed road layout. “The road department never prioritises pedestrian walkways; its only priority is vehicular movement.”

Kadri added that the BMC was under the impression that the Indian Road Congress did not permit footpaths more than 2.5 metres wide. “But I have done the research, and as per the IRC laws, there is nothing to prevent wider footpaths from being built, depending on traffic and road width. Nepeansea Road does not require more than two lanes for cars, making room for a wider footpath of up to 4.5 metres in places.”

The architect pointed out that the length of the road from Rungtha Lane to Priyadarshini Park was 2.7 km. “Half of it has two lanes on both sides, but after Priyadarshini Park it becomes a single lane due to the narrow width,” he said. “There are no traffic jams except when cars double- and triple-park and block the traffic. Based on that, we are saying: if the road is narrow, BMC must compromise on parking, not on footpaths.”

NRCF is playing an active role in the ongoing road improvement process. “We meet the contractors every month and conduct informal inspections with the ward officer,” said Kadri. “We look at the quality of the road-concreting and hold the contractor accountable on deadlines.”

NRCF secretary Mukul Mehra echoed the importance of this supervision. “The monitoring allows us to ensure that the BMC doesn’t do a slipshod job,” he said. “Contractors tend not to adhere to timelines, and materials lying around create traffic bottlenecks. When citizens are part of the project, it makes things smoother.”

NRCF is also working with elected representatives, including MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha, who has reportedly intervened to ensure that the footpaths are made continuously walkable. “Right now, the footpath is done in bits and pieces,” Mehra said. “What we ask for is a walkable footpath, so that once you’re on it with a pram or a wheelchair, you don’t have to get off. It makes things easier for children and seniors.”

A senior civic official from D Ward confirmed that footpath infrastructure was lacking in parts of Nepeansea Road but said that the road was currently being improved. “Their inputs will be incorporated when road concreting restarts after the monsoon,” he said.