A stroll around the Greater Kochi area will give the impression that roads and allied infra are chiefly for automobiles, with little consideration for pedestrians. Still worse is the situation of the differently abled.
Initiatives by agencies such as Cochin Smart Mission Ltd. (CSML) to provide pedestrians their rightful due through a network of standardised footpaths have been limited to a handful of roads in the city hub. Even these newly developed footpaths have been occupied by vendors and other encroachers. The police and civic agencies have not been able to do much to evict them, despite directives by the High Court of Kerala.
A case in point is Abraham Madamakkal Road adjacent to the High Court which the CSML developed as a smart road a year ago. Vendors have occupied considerable portions of the newly developed footpaths, forcing pedestrians to walk on the road. Worse, it is a free-for-all when it comes to parking vehicles on footpaths and narrow sidewalks.
With law enforcement and civic agencies turning a blind eye, the situation is much the same in pedestrian-dense corridors such as Shanmukham Road, Park Avenue Road, Banerjee Road and SA Road. The worst-affected are children, women, senior citizens and the differently abled.
Individuals and NGOs campaigning for pedestrian rights lament that the government and its agencies have not prioritised the safety of pedestrians, although 1,000 pedestrians lost their life in road accidents in Kerala in the past one year.
Speaking of the innumerable hassles pedestrians face at every step in Kochi, Yogi Joseph, a campaigner for pedestrian and cycling rights, who recently undertook a walk through footpaths and road shoulders beneath the 25-km Aluva-Pettah Kochi Metro corridor, says that the footpaths and cycle tracks in the vicinity of metro stations lack continuity.
“Pedestrians must be given their rightful due not just on the metro corridor but throughout the city. Developed and even most developing countries have the concept of street by default, whereas it is roads by default in much of India. The national urban-transport policy of 2006 asserts that streets are meant for people. Island-like interventions at upgrading short stretches of footpaths and cycle tracks will not help,” he says.
Walking must become a part of urban culture. Strangely, parking vehicles on roads and public spaces is seen as a right in Kerala, unlike elsewhere in India where hefty fee is charged. So much so that vehicles are often parked atop tactile tiles laid to guide visually challenged people in Kochi, says Mr. Joseph.
Basic norms
Five basic principles ought to be adhered to for the construction and upkeep of pedestrian infra — safety, security, continuity, comfort and liveability, says B.G. Sreedevi, who was Director of NATPAC.
“Above all, their design must be inclusive. As for footpaths, the Indian Roads Congress norms specify that their surface must be stable and at least 1.8 m wide. The width must be at least 3.5 m in front of shopping complexes and 4 m in front of high-intensity commercial areas. But this is almost always flouted in the State,” she says.
Pedestrian audit
A comprehensive pedestrian audit in 2012 by the city-based think tank Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), covering MG Road, Ernakulam South and Kaloor, found that pedestrians had to jostle for space thanks to encroachments, undulations, broken slabs, garbage heaps, transformers, and advertisement boards atop footpaths and pavements.
Their steep elevation and lack of continuity made walking a nightmare. The inadequate zebra crossings often forced pedestrians to jaywalk, risking their life, it found.
Chairman of CPPR D. Dhanuraj spoke of how Kochi can be reinvented, mainly through a revamp of pedestrian infrastructure. “Street design based on pedestrian density and regular maintenance of footpaths is crucial. The momentum ought to be maintained by conducting a pedestrian audit every six months, following which the agency concerned ought to take remedial measures if needed,” he says.
