Hyderabad: Footpath-dwellers and hawkers are not the only people responsible for encroachment of roads and footpaths in the city. The residents of colonies also eat into footpath spaces by planting saplings and constructing ramps for their cars. Meanwhile, pedestrians are endangered because they do not have enough space to walk. While the total length of roads in the city is 9,099.24 km, the total length of footpaths is only 226 km. Almost all the footpaths in the city have been encroached upon. In several locations, they are occupied by hawkers and vendors, in other places, they are encroached upon by residents of the area.
Encroachments by local residents are especially common in prime residential areas of the city, where lawmakers and bureaucrats reside. M. Sridhar Reddy, a resident of MLA Colony in Banjara Hills, says that current MLAs, former ministers, retired secretaries, and IAS and IPS officers reside in the area. “It is sad to see well-educated, prominent people encroaching on footpaths without any regard for pedestrians. It has become a nightmare for children and the elderly; they are forced to walk on the road, where vehicles are driven at great speeds.”
Footpaths encroached by residents at Konda Reddy street in Marreddpally.
People blame the problem on the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s failure to take action against the encroachers. The Corporation doesn’t have a policy regarding pedestrian safety, nor does it seem to be making any efforts in that direction. A. Subhashini, a resident of Srinagar Colony, says that the absence of space for pedestrians has made the entire neighbourhood unsafe. “Pedestrians are vulnerable; they are exposed to all kinds of danger. We have witnessed cases of molestation and chain snatching by motorists who find pedestrians walking on the road to be easy targets,” she says.
B. Deepthi, a student, walks every day from her home in Himayathnagar to her college in Narayanguda. “Even though it is a distance of less than 2 km, it is a challenging walk because the footpath is almost entirely occupied by parked vehicles and plants. I often get hit by the handles of two-wheelers while walking on the road. I urge the GHMC to show some concern towards pedestrians,” she says, Corporation officials promise that the issue will be resolved immediately, even though they have yet to take any action. “The saplings planted on footpaths will be translocated immediately and notices will be issued to the encroachers. The corporation is planning on constructing cycling tracks and stormwater drains that will run under the footpaths,” says Bonthu Rammohan, the Mayor of Hyderabad.
K.T. Rama Rao, the minister for municipal administration and urban development, brought up the lack of footpaths in the city during a recent review meeting. He announced that the government would constitute a team specifically for the construction of footpaths, and results would be visible within a year. Even though his words have brought pedestrians some relief, they do not believe that their problems will be resolved in the absence of a strong political will.
