Over the last two and a half decades India has experienced significant progress concerning highways. Most of the major cities are connected by four or six lane inter-state roads. As a result, the journey times have come down considerably. For example, the travel time between Bengaluru and Hyderabad is now about eight hours. The same distance would be needing eleven to thirteen hours before.

Having said this, I wish to state the flip side which concerns the pedestrians in our big cities. I am always deeply disturbed by the hardships faced by the pedestrians in our major cities. About ten years back I published four Blog articles in the Boloji web site. The articles are with reference to the Hyderabad city. The last of them can be accessed at

https://www.boloji.com/blog/1777/the-plight-of-pedestrians-in-hyderabad--4

It will come as no surprise to know that the state of affairs have gone from bad to worse during the last decade.

I was reminded of my experiences and the articles a few days back when I was in Chennai. I stayed in a hotel located on the J N Road (100 Feet Road) in Vadapalani area situated in the heart of the city. As I went out for my morning walk, I could easily empathise with other walkers and feel their plight. The road, by design, has eight foot wide pavements on either side. But its maintenance and administrative control have left much to be desired. I walked for about half a kilometre. But there was hardly any stretch of even thirty meters where a person could walk without getting disturbed or without the need to exercise caution. The walkers have to avoid pitfalls or even step out of the pavement in order to continue walking.

The rest of this article is a summary of what I observed and experienced during that short period of time.

GATES

Fig. 1

Being a very busy area, the road contains many business houses and big buildings. A part of those buildings are large entrance gates. Many of the gates can open outwards and thereby cause hindrance to the walkers. This is observable on the right side of the figure above. Here we see the failure of the civic bodies like corporations. The authorities need to be very strict and enforce the rules and guidelines rigorously.

DAMAGE TO THE PAVEMENTS

Fig. 2

Like the other roads, pavements are also vulnerable to damage. The civic authorities need to put in efforts required to ensure that the footpaths are maintained in a healthy state. In the figure above, we see two typical damages. On the left, the tiles have broken and have collapsed. On the right side we see that that the manhole openings are left uncovered. Because of such damages, the walkers need to be extremely cautious and literally watch every step.

OBSTACLES

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

We encounter all varieties of obstacles. The four pictures above contain typical obstacles. On the Top Left, we see there is a break in the continuity of the pavement and there is a dip of about eight inches. This is deliberately done by the building owner to facilitate smooth entry of the vehicles. We also observe a mini pool caused by water coming out of the building. On the Top Right, we see a small structure. Such structures are common and are frequently erected by the telephone or electricity departments. On the Bottom Left, we see quite a bit of unused cables dumped on the pavement. This careless act is definitely by a government agency. On the Bottom Right we see a clear case of encroachment. A shop owner has built entrance steps.

These pictures were taken during the early hours when the shops were not yet open. When the shops open, one can expect more obstacles such as display article of the shopkeepers.

BLOCKADES

Fig. 5

During my short walk I encountered two places which forced me to step out of the footpath and walk on the road. They can be seen in the figure above. Stepping out of the pavement and walking on the road are very hazardous.

TO SUM UP

The foregoing information underscores the bitter truth that it is generally a hell for pedestrians in our cities. Chennai, and for that matter, all cities are no different from Hyderabad. The civic authorities need to take the major share of the blame. Their apathy is deplorable. They need to be strict in implementing the rules and should heavily penalise the violators.