Footpath policy for City on anvil

Footpath policy for City on anvil
By R Krishnakumar, DH News Service, Bangalore:
In a concerted effort to battle the issue of shrinking pedestrian space, the City's Traffic Police Department is mooting a policy dedicated to construction and maintenance of footpaths.

The Department is close to finalising the policy draft that would later be sent to the State government, through the Home Department, for clearance.

Though the civic bodies and police have over the years taken up one-off initiatives to clear footpath encroachments, this could be the first policy-level move in this connection. K C Ramamurthy, IGP and Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security) said the policy would incorporate various aspects connected to footpath maintenance. “One of the issues that the policy proposes to address is the creation of footpaths in upcoming residential layouts and their neighbourhoods. It will study the patterns in which footpaths have been encroached and how the issue could be tackled in the future,” Ramamurthy said.

BBMP’s call
The policy will under its ambit cover traders, makeshift restaurants, construction spill-overs, illegal parking spaces, chaat vendors and other minor business units. The Department is learnt to be extremely critical about the way footpaths in Bangalore’s commercial pockets have been encroached by small-time vendors and hawkers. The Department is set to address the issue, in concurrence with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. BBMP, for long, has been in the line of fire over the encroachment of footpaths across the City.

“After the department-level meetings and clearance of the final draft, the policy will be sent to BBMP for its views. The BBMP will incorporate suggestions and concerns before the consolidated policy is devised,” the Additional Commissioner said.

Illegal landscaping
The policy is also tipped to address the issue of residents converting footpaths and pavements into parking lots and gardens. BBMP, with an annual budget of around Rs 10 crore for maintaining footpaths, will play the most critical role in the enforcement. “We are drafting the policy only from a traffic point of view. The final policy will take into consideration the various other concerns,” Ramamurthy said.

MAKING WAY
*Footpath policy to address encroachment issues
*Residents who convert footpaths to gardens under scanner
*Maintenance of footpaths in layouts to be key
*Policy to incorporate views from all departments