These Mumbaikars Took Matters in Their Own Hands and Are Making Footpaths Safer for Pedestrians

The citizens of Mumbai have come together to make the city a bit more friendly for pedestrians. And to do just that, they have started documenting every problem in the streets of the city to get the attention of the civic authorities.

The initiative is called The Walking Project and the goal is to wed citizen advocacy with the work done by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation).

The group is currently identifying problem areas on footpaths and roads of Andheri using photographs for documentation so the information can be passed on to the concerned authorities.

Image for representation. Photo source: Wikimedia

Rishi Aggarwal, one of the citizen activists, spoke to DNA and claimed that the group exists to influence BMC to affect positive change in the city, especially for its pedestrians. He said: “The aim of the project is to influence the working of BMC to maintain good footpaths, develop projects in different areas in the city and encourage public awareness. The poor condition of the footpaths affect daily pedestrians, especially children. There is a need for the civic authority to control hawkers as well as parking on the footpath.”

While a similar iteration of this initiative had existed earlier, the group re-launched it in December 2016 with renewed rigor to promote civic awareness and duty. And right now they are working with the Road Department engineers of BMC to survey Andheri-Kurla road. The group states that the BMC has already noted down suggestions.

You may also like: Delhi Govt Plans to make Roads Friendlier for Public Transport, Pedestrians and Disabled People

While the work is currently concentrated in Andheri, the members behind the project hope this expands to the rest of Mumbai, and are trying to do spread the word by organising events in different parts of the city.

Hopefully, this is just the beginning.

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