The Hindu                23.05.2013

BBMP gears up for the monsoon

Staff Reporter

To prevent possible rain damages ahead of the monsoon, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has taken up a cleaning programme in the city’s prime roads in each zone on Tuesday.

During the drive, the officials will oversee clearing of shoulder drains and roadside drains, repairing footpaths and replacement of missing cobblestones. This drive will help the BBMP mitigate flooding, water logging and stagnation. It will be taken up for two to three days every week.

According to a press release, 10 control rooms would function round-the-clock. These control rooms will have 13 prahari (emergency) teams and 200 gangmen.

That apart, there will also be 20 forest teams with gangmen to clear the fallen trees. Each team will have eight gangmen. These teams have been directed to clear the fallen trees and branches within one hour. The officials from each zone have been asked to identify areas prone to flooding, ascertain the maximum flow in the storm water drains there and create awareness among residents of these areas to take precautions.

The Times of India            22.05.2013

Civic chief instructs road department to clear footpaths

PUNE: Municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak has issued strict instructions to the road department to remove encroachments and debris from all the footpaths in the city, repair them and make them walkable for citizens for the forthcoming monsoon.

Cluttered footpaths, encroachments on the pavements and uneven surface have been points of discussions at traffic advisory meetings. The state urban development department had directed the civic body last May, to clear all footpaths in a month and make them walkable. The civic body had undertaken an anti-encroachment drive subsequently to clear the footpaths, but matters are back to square one, said civic activists.

In the fresh instructions issued to the road department and ward offices, Pathak has directed civic officials to appoint nuisance detection squads to review the condition of footpaths. Timely action must be taken on the basis of the review to make footpaths smooth and free from obstructions, he added.

The guidelines include instructions on road-digging, repairs of pavements as well as curbing encroachments on footpaths. The road department in particular, other government departments and private enterprises have been told to take adequate precautions when digging roads to ensure there are no obstructions to pedestrians and their lives are not put to risk, a statement issued by the civic body said.

If a footpath is not walkable because of ongoing work, alternative arrangements will have to be made for pedestrians. It will also be mandatory for any department or company that undertakes road-digging to put up a barricade and signs for pedestrians, the statement added. Unless this is done, permission for road-digging will not be granted.

Urging the departments to carry out repair work within deadlines, Pathak has said that if pedestrian safety was endangered when any road-digging activity was undertaken, the responsibility will rest with the department, the ward office, the technical and nontechnical staff and the departmental head.

He said that "serious cognizance" will be taken of all violations and any private institution or company that indulges in road-digging without due permission from the civic body would face immediate action that includes fine.

However, road safety activists and citizens groups remained with the PMC's 'lip service'. "The PMC itself is often responsible for obstructing the pavements. All over the city it can be seen that the debris from the pre-monsoon clearance of drains is deposited on footpaths," said Jugal Rathi a road safety activist.

While vendors and hawkers are usually targeted in pavement clearing drives, institutional encroachment is a far more serious issue. "Malls, petrol pumps, banks and showrooms get away with encroachment," he said.

Pointing out that the pavement clearance drive carried out by the civic body last May was followed by a return to status quo within a month, activist Chandmal Parmar said that action will have to be taken against shopkeepers and commercial establishments for a lasting impact. "There are allegations of underhand dealings with the authorities. Unless this is dealt with, we can never have a permanent solution," Parmar said.

Blurb

Municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak has also instructed that all encroachments on footpaths by malls, petrol pumps, garages and other commercial establishments be removed and strict action be taken against institutions that utilise pavements as parking space. He also said that entry points of footpaths should have steps that would provide easy access to pedestrians and prevent parking of vehicles on the footpaths.

Times View

Pedestrians in the city have always been shortchanged when it comes to amenities for their safety. Lack of working pedestrian signals, no refuges to cross roads and the absence of footpaths have endangered many lives. Where there are footpaths, encroachments have come up, or they are in a state of disrepair and citizens are forced to walk on roads. Last year, the civic body did make an attempt to clear the footpaths after the state urban development department asked the civic officials to get their act together in a month. However, things are back to square one, as highlighted by civic activists. The municipal commissioner has once again issued instructions to remove encroachments and repair dug-up or broken sections. The drive to make footpaths walkable must be continuous and not be confined to periodic actions. Only then will we have the desired impact.