Being able to walk on a footpath in Kolkata is a rare opportunity. Either they are encroached upon or in such a bad shape that walking on them is impossible.
The Telegraph found stretches of the footpath along Harish Mukherjee Road, Queens Way, Madan Street, Prince Anwar Shah Road and Basanta Bose Road where the encroachment-free stretches are also without pedestrians. The pavement is either broken or mounds of dug up soil remain discarded for months or waste dumped on it.
In most places, the paver blocks were removed for underground repair job or for infrastructure upgrade. The restoration is done after days and months, and even then without much care. The result is the pavers come off from their grooves or the sand under the paver blocks disperse across the stretch making it a dusty track that people tend to avoid.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is the custodian of footpaths in the city. A senior official of the KMC admitted that dumping of wastes on the footpath was a problem in some places. He added that restoration of a footpath is taken up within seven days of the end of any work for which a footpath was dug.
The Telegraph came across several such stretches in Kolkata where walking is impossible despite there being no hawkers or other encroachments.
Nearly 100 metres length of the footpath near Taltala ground on Prince Anwar Shah Road in south Kolkata is an open vat in all sense. There is a large container occupying portions of the footpath and a small portion of the road. The footpath in the immediate vicinity of the container too is used to throw wastes. Pedestrians who were walking towards Jadavpur police station crossing from South City have to suddenly step down on the road amid the traffic.
Several stretches of the footpath along Harish Mukherjee Road are broken. A long stretch of the footpath opposite the HDFC Bank branch near Mitra Institution in south Kolkata is broken. Half-broken bricks, cement, concrete slabs are left discarded on the footpath. It is evident that the footpath was dug up for some work. “An internet service provider is inserting cables under the footpath along Harish Mukherjee Road. We will take up the restoration work as soon as they complete their work,” he said. “Utility providers are supposed to keep the paver blocks lined up along one side of the footpath and level the area after covering the dug up ditch. They are also supposed to remove any excess soil,” said the official.
A small stretch of the southern footpath of Madan Street in central Kolkata, immediately near the crossing of Chittaranjan Avenue and Madan Street, is unencroached. But it is used to park handcarts of the KMC that collect waste from households every morning. Also water leaking from a pipe on the wall of the Hindustan Buildings makes the stretch slushy, forcing people to avoid it and walk on the road. A few metres ahead, a pay and use toilet has completely blocked the footpath, leaving no room for pedestrians.
The southern footpath on Basanta Bose Road, along the wall of Asutosh College in south Kolkata has no paver blocks on a small portion. The sand underneath has scattered over an area.