Bengaluru: The city with its 141 skywalks is no more pedestrian friendly today than it was in the past and civic activists blame their location, which they believe is flawed and of no help to anyone.
“Sadly, no proper study was done on the requirements of pedestrians before the skywalks were built across the city. They are basically advertisement and contractor driven,” says Mr N. Mukund, secretary of Citizens Action Forum (CAF).
Pointing out that most skywalks are too high for pedestrian comfort and drives them to give them a miss and cross the roads on the ground instead, he regrets that some of them have also occupied pavements in places, leaving no space for pedestrians to walk.
“The skywalk in Jayanagar is a sheer waste of public money as the place where it is intalled has a traffic signal, which allows pedestrians to cross the road with ease. Instead, the skywalk should have been located a little further down to help shoppers and bus commuters,” Mr Mukund suggests.
He also believes that skywalks must have lifts or escalators to help the elderly, women and children use them.
The BBMP appears to have caught on as far as this is concerned as of the nine skywalks recently completed, the one at the Manayata Tech park has an escalator.
Also, the new skywalks planned of late will come equipped with lifts, according to BBMP officials.
“The skywalk being built at Embassy Golf Link on Intermediate Ring Road, will have a lift to help pedestrians,” says an official
But Mr Vinay Srinivas of the Alternative Law Forum , who has been fighting for pedestrian safety, believes lifts and escalators will not do the trick either.
“We live in a city where providing streetlights is a challenge to the civic body and so how can people be sure that lifts and escalators attached to the skywalks will have uninterrupted power supply?” he asks.
