Visakhapatnam: The footpaths at the busiest commercials centres like Dwarakanagar, Jagadamba Junction, Daba Gardens, Gajuwaka, Ramnagar and a few other areas in the city were examples of how public amenity can be misused.
The footpaths are used as parking lots by two-wheelers, leaving the pedestrians with no choice but to walk on the heavy traffic roads in the city, making it risky for them. On the other hand, there is no coordination between the officials of the corporation and city traffic police to crackdown on the encroachment of footpaths in the city.
In most places in the city, the business establishments have failed to provide parking places for the two-wheelers, thus forcing the shoppers to park their vehicles on footpaths.
“Footpaths in Vizag are shrinking, thanks to the encroachment by shop-keepers and vendors. Not only are the footpaths crowded with eateries, there are good number of motor bikes parked on them.
Majority of the customers of the shops end up parking their two-wheeler on footpaths, which are meant for pedestrians and no one questions them,” said R. Sangeetha, a pedestrian who does her shopping at Dwarakanagar area in the city.
Like Sangeetha, many feel that with the encroachment of footpaths, there is no place to walk during the evening hours on city roads and with the rising vehicular traffic, there is a fear to walk on the roads, as there are chances of getting hit by vehicles.
Traffic cops and GVMC staff turned a blind eye to such motorists by taking kick backs from the shop-keepers, they added When contacted, additional deputy commissioner of Police (Traffic), V. Suresh Babu, claimed that they had instructed the shopkeepers not to allow parking on pedestrian places and sometimes the motorists were penalised for illegal parking.
However, some motorists claim that with no parking facility at some places in the city, they are forced to park their costly bikes on footpaths.
The commissioner of police, B. Shivadhar Reddy, said they would hold a meet with officials of GVMC for the safety of the pedestrians in the city by being strict against the footpath encroachers and the shop-keepers, besides setting up temporary parking lots at the busies places in the city.
