Why Mumbaikars have now started walking on roads

On December 21 2021 a car rammed into Prashant Barekar on a Borivli road killing him In February last year Bipin Dharod sustained multiple fractures after a car hit him in a lane in the same suburb Both were on the road as there was no footpath space Like Barekar and Dharod countless Mumbaikars risk their lives daily as they donrsquot have access to pavements In a sevenpart series midday explores the hurdles that come in the way of pedestrians in this metropolisAs per the latest statistics of the Union Ministry of Roads and Transport Mumbai ranks second highest among Indian metro cities in pedestrianrelated road accidents next to DelhiAlso read Maharashtra No roads in Palghar village put ailing residents at riskBipin Dharod who was hit by a car on a Borivli road in Feb 2021 right Prashant Barekar who died after being hit by a car at Borivli on Dec 21 2021Kandivli resident Barekar 45 worked as a head steward at Bay Viv Hotel in Gorai and was walking towards a bus stop on Gorai Road He is survived by his wife 13yearold son and 8yearold daughter Dharod 61 was trying to navigate a busy narrow road near Kulupwadi at Borivli West at the time of the mishap It took him six months to recuperate Jeevan Bhatia from Kandivli fractured his leg while walking on an uneven road Later his neighbour too got her foot fractured due to an unpaved roadWhen walking is nightmareWalking in Mumbai continues to be a nightmare whether it is from your office to the railway station home to the market to childrenrsquos school or even a small distance trip to the nearest playground The harrowing experience of pedestrians in the city points out only one thingmdashhow the countryrsquos richest civic body has failed to provide safe pedestrian infrastructure despite framing an elaborate lsquoPedestrian First policyrsquo The cityrsquos pavements feature every possible barrier for a walker imaginable potted plants eating into the walking space shops blocking pavements bus stops parked automobiles and fractured paver blocks jutting out Left with no option people are compelled to stroll on the road dodging irate honking motoristsldquoI blame Barekarrsquos death on the lack of adequate footpaths in the area Barekar had no choice but to walk on the road This is hardly the only instance A senior citizen was hurt three months ago when a car hit him while he was walking toward the McDonaldrsquos beside Don Bosco School in Borivli Encroached broken and no footpaths make walking very difficult for not just senior citizens and the disabled but also for ordinary walkers Mumbairsquos civic body has terribly failed in its efforts to develop and maintain footpaths in a majority of the suburbs They do not exist or if they do they are badly maintained or encroached upon by hawkers or squatters even at bus stopsrdquo said former corporator of Gorai Shiva ShettyShiva Shetty points to where Prashant Barekar was killedDharod who got multiple fractures said ldquoForget proper and clear footpaths the road where I met with an accident is blocked by buses and vehicles parked all over making it difficult to walk during peak hours It is also tough for motorists to navigate through the road due to the crowd I was hit by a car on my lower back I was bedridden for two months and it took over six months for me fully recoverrdquolsquoUneven footpaths bigger riskrsquoNot just vehicles uneven footpaths pose grave dangers to walkers Narrating his ordeal Kandivli resident Bhatia who took to social media to highlight the problem said ldquoI fractured my leg walking on an uneven road No action was ever taken Subsequently my neighbour also fractured her foot due to the same problem Pedestrians continue to suffer in this cityrdquoAs per the latest data of the BMC 65 to 70 per cent of the total 2055 km road network in Mumbai have pedestrian walkways or footpaths and the majority of them need urgent attention Of these about 1950 km is maintained by the BMC itselfA drinking water kiosk has been built on a footpath at Borivli West PicsAnurag AhireAccording to the Mumbai Road Safety Annual Report 2020 more than 135 million people are killed in road accidents worldwide each year with low and middleincome nations accounting for 93 per cent of these fatalities India accounts for 11 per cent of the worldrsquos road crash deaths In 2019 India reported 151113 deaths with Maharashtra accounting for 12788As per the 2020 report pedestrians are the second most vulnerable road users in Mumbai accounting for 42 per cent of all traffic fatalitiesThe report says Mumbai stood second highest in the number of accidents involving pedestrians with 944 mishaps the first being Delhi with 1621 accidents Of the deaths in Mumbai there were 136 pedestrian deaths while 897 pedestrians were grievously injured and 108 sustained minor injuriesRishi Aggarwal The Walking ProjectSome efforts for walkersIn 2008 authorities tried to improve pedestrian access in the city Building skywalks between stations and major thoroughfares was a joint effort by the state government as well as local entities They selected Bandra and Santacruz stations for this purpose However the skywalks have been mostly underutilised due to a lack of exits poor security hawker invasion and improper alignments They are too tall for senior citizens and women to accessRishi Aggarwal who founded The Walking Project in 2012 as an advocacy group for a safer convenient and joyful walking experience on roads in Indian cities said ldquoThe plan then was to try to reach out to the BMC and other planning authorities and get them to work on giving Mumbai the best walking environment in the country Itrsquos been a decade since we started however the city still faces the same issuesmdashnonwalkable or no pedestrianfriendly roads While millions are spent on roads flyovers and bridges to accommodate the everincreasing volumes of cars no thought is spared for walkersrdquoAggarwal blames the state of affairs on the lack of consistency and planning by authorities He said ldquoThey BMC and other planning agencies keep introducing new projects every year with attractive names however all this still fails to resolve the core issue The problem lies with the road department and the chief engineer who need to be sensitised towards pedestrian issues Indian Road Congress too had come up with detailed guidelines on roads and pavementsfootpaths BMC has its own pedestrian first policy Sadly none of these guidelines has been implemented in MumbairdquoPedestrian First policyThe BMC had introduced a lsquoPedestrian Firstrsquo policy to make Mumbairsquos footpaths free of encroachment but it never really took off The corporation had sanctioned Rs 100 crore for footpath repairs in 2019 Half of that money was eventually used to save the BEST The pandemic and the drop in revenue forced the BMC to slash the budget for footpath repairs by 86 per cent in 2020 from R50 crore to a meagre R7 crore Officials said the project received less attention largely due to COVID19New plans raise hopeThe recently launched Mumbai Climate Action Planrsquos MCAP sustainable mobility outlook has highlighted that only 22 per cent of the cityrsquos roads are pedestrianfriendly or is walkableMCAP has recommended that the city planning authorities draft a detailed Nonmotorised Transport policy for Mumbai by 2035 It has also set a target for BMC MMRDA and other bodies to implement pilot pedestrianisation projects in high footfall areas by 2025 fixing signs near pedestrian crossings increase signal timings for walkers by 2030 to check fatality rates for pedestrians and increase the length of pedestrian walkways in lowincome areas At present most footpaths are encroached obstructed by structures or used to park twowheelersldquoDespite challenging walking conditions that we observe in Mumbai over the past many years the city still retains over 50 per cent pedestrian mode share But this cannot be viewed as an achievement right now instead as a number that we have to work hardest to retain and possibly increase Imagine if these people move to motorised modes And this is only possible with a conscious attempt to shift the focus from moving vehicles to moving peoplerdquo said Dhawal Ashar head integrated transport and road safety with the nonprofit WRI India42 per centCityrsquos share of pedestrians in road fatalities22Percentage of city roads that are walker friendly as per MCAP study