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MC councillors must ensure safety of pedestrians

LUDHIANA: So far, previous Houses of the Municipal Corporation (MC) have failed to ensure safety of pedestrians on city roads.

MC councillors must ensure safety of pedestrians

Broken footpath outside the Government College for Girls in Ludhiana. Photo: Inderjit Verma



Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 17

So far, previous Houses of the Municipal Corporation (MC) have failed to ensure safety of pedestrians on city roads. The industrial town has the highest fatality rate in road accidents.

Footpaths along roads are either unavailable in most parts of the city or in pitiable condition. In most areas, there are no zebra crossings, no foot over bridges (FOBs) and pedestrian traffic signals are also missing.

Residents have demanded that the upcoming MC House should ensure safety of pedestrians and commuters as it was difficult for them to cross busiest roads in the city.

Most areas have no footpaths

Unfortunately, footpaths are available in only few parts of the city. The safety of pedestrians is also ignored as footpaths have not been laid on ROBs or flyovers, including Lakkar Bridge, Elevated Road, Southern bypass and Gill Road.

The footpaths near Bharat Nagar Chowk, Bhai Bala, Chowk, Chatar Singh Park and others are in dilapidated condition and often cause injuries to pedestrians. In several mishaps reported, pedestrians have lost their lives while walking on roads in the absence of footpaths.

Residents have raised questions over working of the previous civic body Houses, which never paid attention to safety of pedestrians and commuters.

Two zebra crossings add to confusion

The commuters are always confused at Bharat Nagar Chowk as there are two zebra crossings on each side. Actually, the old zebra crossings were not painted in a right manner as dividers created obstructions.

Later, the civic body got new zebra crossings painted without removing the old due to which commuters always suffered.

Besides, zebra crossings at different intersections on Pakhowal Road, Ferozepur Road, Gill Road and other stretches are either not drawn or have faded.

Also several zebra crossings need attention as railings and dividers create obstructions and cause inconvenience to pedestrians.

No traffic signals, roundabouts

Many intersections have no traffic signals or roundabouts, which often causes mishaps. Although the MC assured to install traffic lights at Aggar Nagar Chowk, no action had been taken. Besides, there are no traffic signals on different intersections on Pakhowal Road, Ferozepur Road and other parts of the city.

Earlier, the MC had installed traffic lights near Sabzi Mandi, but these generally remained non-functional.

No FOB outside bus stand

Despite repeated demand of residents, foot overbridge (FOB) has not been constructed outside the city bus stand. In absence of the FOB, visitors are forced to cross the road thus putting their lives at risk.

Besides, residents of Aman Nagar, near Jalandhar bypass, have been demanding that the authorities concerned should construct an FOB on the National Highway No. 1 as the stretch is accident prone.

In November last year, a 35-year-old woman was killed when a speeding car hit her while crossing the national highway.

Signage and direction boards missing

Speed limits and directions boards are missing from most roads. Residents want the authorities to make sure that signage and direction boards are installed on all roads in the city.

What the city requires?

Member of the National Road Safety Council, Kamaljit Soi, said, “Cities should be comfortable to commute. Pedestrians must enjoy while walking. It is one of the most important aspects of urbanism. Unfortunately, Ludhiana is the most unfriendly city for pedestrians.”

“People are afraid to walk as there is no place on Ludhiana roads. Footpaths are either not existing or have been encroached. There are no pedestrian streets as such,” he said.

“All roads are flooded with vehicles and pedestrians always fear for their lives while walking in the city. In fact, we have stripped our roads/streets of every function except the movement of vehicles,” he added.

“There are no zebra crossings, FOBs, pedestrian traffic signals, non-motorised vehicle zones, besides pedestrian and green streets. These words are probably not known to our city planners or the municipal authorities,” he said.

“Ludhiana being number one in road accident fatality rate is the most deadly, unsafe city because of lack of planning and designing of roads and streets,” he added.

RESIDENTS SPEAK

Road engineering is poor in Ludhiana. We can cite the example of beautiful and smart city Chandigarh, which has proper footpaths, zebra crossings, road markings and traffic lights. In Ludhiana, neither roads are proper nor are traffic lights and signage. Our city has to do a lot of homework before entering the smart city mission. The main focus of the upcoming MC House should be on city planning. —Sanchi Goel, Student

The new MC House must ensure repair of damaged footpaths. It should also carry out survey and construction of footpaths in the areas where these are unavailable. Zebra crossings must be drawn properly and traffic signals be installed where necessary. We expect the new councillors to take requisite steps for making the city safe for pedestrians and commuters. —Prabhjot Singh Sachdeva, Advocate 

Previous Houses of the civic body have failed to make the city safe for pedestrians and commuters as no attention has been paid to planning. The MC has even failed to recruit architects for the right planning of the city. There should be one board under which development of the city must be carried out. There is a dire need for the construction of foot over bridges, installation of traffic signals and laying of footpaths in various parts of the city. —Karamjit Singh, architect & resident, SBS Nagar

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