MUMBAI: The BMC has cleared around 68 km of footpaths across 81 stretches in the first 14 days of its ‘Pedestrian First’ campaign as it intensifies its drive against encroachments and other obstructions that force pedestrians onto roads. The campaign aims to create safe, continuous and obstruction-free pedestrian pathways.
Assistant commissioners will conduct inspections while wards will submit weekly reports with details of action and before-and-after photographs. Deputy municipal commissioners will verify these reports and the additional municipal commissioner (AMC) will conduct fortnightly reviews. Dhakne added that action had also been taken against eligible hawkers who occupied more space than allotted to them. “For the benefit and livelihood of a few, we cannot put pedestrians across the city at stake. Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder of the Chandivali Citizens Welfare Association, welcomed the civic action but stressed the need for consistency. “We don’t want this to be done for some time and then stopped.
The civic body has cited the Mumbai Road Safety Annual Report 2023, according to which pedestrians accounted for 44% of road accident fatalities. The BMC has promised that at least 90% of footpaths in every ward will be inspected every month. The BMC has therefore positioned the campaign as more than an anti-encroachment exercise, saying it aims to make walking safer and improve the overall quality and continuity of footpaths.
“I am of the firm opinion that their licences should be suspended if they are found setting up their businesses beyond what is allotted to them,” he said. We want it to be a consistent exercise,” he said.
The civic administration is carrying out continuous monitoring to ensure that the situation does not return to what it was earlier.
