The city footpaths

The road infrastructure of a country should be pedestrian friendly but unfortunately its absence is very much felt in our country

That 44 per cent of the roads in the capital and its outskirts do not have footpaths and whatever are there 82 per cent of them are unfit for pedestrians to walk is a worrying piece of information. The road infrastructure of a country should be pedestrian-friendly but unfortunately its absence is very much felt in the cities of Bangladesh. Footpaths are for the pedestrians who can walk along those safely and freely, but almost all the footpaths alongside the major thoroughfares in the capital remain occupied by hawkers and others despite drives conducted by the authorities concerned from time to time.
Pedestrians constitute a major segment of the urban population but it seems that the urban planners have given preference to privately owned cars, not the pedestrians. As a result, the pedestrians suffer; people using crutch, white cane and wheel chair and other physically challenged ones bear the brunt of the situation. The two city corporations are responsible for maintaining about 163 km of footpath across the city, of which about 108 km are now under illegal occupation, creating obstacles to free pedestrian movement.
Thousands of illegal makeshift shops have sprung up in the different areas of the city corporations, including 108 km footpaths, forcing the pedestrians to use the main roads. Using main roads by pedestrians is hazardous as it may cause accidents apart from triggering traffic jams. There are some overpasses in the city but it is difficult for the people who have crossed 50 to use those. The underpasses have been constructed for easy movement of pedestrians but movement through those also pose problems sometimes.
Footpaths need to be freed from illegal occupation for uninterrupted movement of pedestrians. But eviction drives conducted by the city corporation officials at times to restore the footpaths is not sustainably done. The hawkers who are allegedly backed up by police and local political leaders return to the previous places after the drives and rebuild their structures. So, eviction of thousands of hawkers overnight from footpaths without making alternative arrangements for their livelihood will not be prudent. The authorities will have to handle the issue of the hawkers with care. There are many open spaces lying unutilized in the capital city not far from the footpaths. Those can be used for rehabilitation of the hawkers.

The city footpaths

The road infrastructure of a country should be pedestrian friendly but unfortunately its absence is very much felt in our country

That 44 per cent of the roads in the capital and its outskirts do not have footpaths and whatever are there 82 per cent of them are unfit for pedestrians to walk is a worrying piece of information. The road infrastructure of a country should be pedestrian-friendly but unfortunately its absence is very much felt in the cities of Bangladesh. Footpaths are for the pedestrians who can walk along those safely and freely, but almost all the footpaths alongside the major thoroughfares in the capital remain occupied by hawkers and others despite drives conducted by the authorities concerned from time to time. Pedestrians constitute a major segment of the urban population but it seems that the urban planners have given preference to privately owned cars, not the pedestrians. As a result, the pedestrians suffer; people using crutch, white cane and wheel chair and other physically challenged ones bear the brunt of the situation. The two city corporations are responsible for maintaining about 163 km of footpath across the city, of which about 108 km are now under illegal occupation, creating obstacles to free pedestrian movement. Thousands of illegal makeshift shops have sprung up in the different areas of the city corporations, including 108 km footpaths, forcing the pedestrians to use the main roads. Using main roads by pedestrians is hazardous as it may cause accidents apart from triggering traffic jams. There are some overpasses in the city but it is difficult for the people who have crossed 50 to use those. The underpasses have been constructed for easy movement of pedestrians but movement through those also pose problems sometimes. Footpaths need to be freed from illegal occupation for uninterrupted movement of pedestrians. But eviction drives conducted by the city corporation officials at times to restore the footpaths is not sustainably done. The hawkers who are allegedly backed up by police and local political leaders return to the previous places after the drives and rebuild their structures. So, eviction of thousands of hawkers overnight from footpaths without making alternative arrangements for their livelihood will not be prudent. The authorities will have to handle the issue of the hawkers with care. There are many open spaces lying unutilized in the capital city not far from the footpaths. Those can be used for rehabilitation of the hawkers.