Who stole my pavement? Commuters on Greams Road seek better standard of infrastructure

The pavements on Greams Road have fallen prey to encroachment, garbage, vendors’ stalls and parked vehicles. The road’s prime location and heavy foot traffic demand better standard of infrastructure for the pedestrians.

The encroachment by shops and hotel in the part linking Mount Road forces pedestrians to step on to the road to navigate it.

With many vehicles turning a blind corner, pedestrianslooking to walk the stretch to cross the road in the area are on realdanger. 

There is no room for pedestrians even close to the first bus stop. The area before the bus stop is home to a few families of homeless people. Their belongings are placed on the footpaths.

Pushcarts of vendors are also parked on and adjoining the pavement, blocking the route for the pedestrians.

“It is very difficult to walk on this road. There is a constant stream of vehicles, who do not slow down and the footpaths are unusable for various reasons. I live on this road and have alerted the authorities to this with no action. There are so many restaurants here that have patrons parking on the sidewalk too,” laments James, a pedestrian in the area.

Vendors have set up stalls that take up the entirety of the pavement. Pedestrians have to walk around the stalls. Some shops have set up name boards and chairs for patrons on the sidewalk. 

Another woe is the placement of dustbins on the sidewalk. The dustbins are placed in a manner that when they overflow all the waste is strewn on the footpath. The odour makes the situation worse. Accumulated waste is also a health hazard with mosquitoes breeding during the rains. 

“In two parts of the road the bins on the street are directly on the footpath. A sea of garbage is on the footpath whenever the bins overflow. Even when the bins are cleared the footpath is never attended to so the waste continues to lie there. No one can walk past the section. All pedestrians just move to the road as walking there is a danger. There are many strays that also forage food there and are sometimes aggressive towards people” says Mohana, a resident in the area near Greams Road.

In addition, private vehicles also take up the footpath. Sometimes vans belonging to Apollo hospitals can be seen on the footpath after the lane leading up to the hospital. As a result, pedestrians have no room on Greams Road.