E-Paper
Bavdhan citizens’ group hits the streets, reclaims footpaths by painting ‘no parking’
Residents in the Pashan-Bavdhan area of Pune took matters into their own hands by painting 'no parking' on footpaths to combat the problem of unauthorised hawkers and illegally parked vehicles. The citizens' group, Bavdhan Citizens' Forum, organised the activity to send a strong message that footpaths are for pedestrians, not for parking or setting up stalls. Despite repeated complaints, the Pune Municipal Corporation has failed to take action. The issue of encroachment on footpaths by hawkers and vehicles is a widespread problem in Pune.
Fed up of the Pune Municipal Corporation’s apathy towards the problem of unauthorised hawkers and illegally parked vehicles encroaching footpaths in the Pashan-Bavdhan area despite repeated complaints from citizens, a clutch of area residents took matters into their own hands Saturday and painted ‘no parking’ on the footpaths to restore pedestrian rights in the area. A citizens’ group named ‘Bavdhan Citizens’ Forum or BCF’ held the activity on footpaths and roads between lane number 8 and lane number 10 on the Pashan-NDA Link Road. Group members painted ‘no parking’ on the footpaths with the help of stencils and yellow paint. The activity was organised to send out a strong message that footpaths are meant for pedestrians, and not for parking vehicles or setting up stalls.
Dushyant Bhatia, a BCF member, said, “We conducted awareness campaigns on the same issue in the past but they had little impact. Despite repeated complaints, the PMC chose to remain a mute spectator and therefore, we decided to take this step.”
“We repeatedly appealed to the PMC authority in this area and also to the police department. I am not aware of what kind of action has been taken by these authorities in recent times but the issue remains unsolved; rather, it has become a major problem in recent times. Therefore 15 group members came together and initiated this activity. We are also planning to extend this activity to other places in Pashan and Bavdhan and many group members have shown their support for the same,” Bhatia said.
The residents of Pashan-Bavdhan have been facing these issues for a long time now and eateries dotting the main roads and footpaths leave little or no space for pedestrians to move freely. Many senior citizens and people walking with infants/children are inconvenienced as the footpaths are occupied by hawkers and vehicles most of the time. Sometimes, citizens have also had to suffer minor injuries due to the hawker menace and unruly parking,” Bhatia said.
Encroachment of footpaths by unauthorised hawkers and illegally parked vehicles is a universal problem in Pune city. Despite citizens raising complaints time and again, there is no end in sight to the problem. Recently, Hindustan Times had reported the emergence of unauthorised hamlets on the footpath adjoining the Katraj Zoo boundary wall.
In an earlier conversation with this newspaper, Madhav Jagtap, deputy commissioner, encroachment department of the PMC, had said that encroachment of footpaths has risen in recent years and that despite action being taken by the authorities from time to time, the encroachments disappear for a while only to surface again. The PMC is planning to conduct a survey on this and take appropriate action against encroachment.
