The New Town authorities have started a survey to find out whether residents feel safe to walk on the township’s roads and what their concerns are while they take a walk.

The survey is being carried out because Hidco, which builds infrastructure in New Town, wants real-time feedback from pedestrians and wants to encourage walking as well as cycling among residents, a Hidco official said.

At least two roads have been earmarked in New Town that will be converted into pedestrian zones. One of the zones will be set up in front of Eco Urban Village and the other in front of the New Town clock tower, the official said.

The residents will be sent forms that will have a variety of questions on the challenges they face while walking down a road in New Town, as well as other parts of the city. The questions range from broken pavements to the fear of teasing and snatching.

Debashis Sen, the chairman and managing director of Hidco, said they wanted to know from the residents what needed to be done — such as building sidewalks and setting up road infrastructure — to encourage them to walk more frequently to run errands or to their workplaces and back home.

“New Town has wide sidewalks along every road in all three action areas. We want to encourage people to walk or cycle to their destinations if it is within a reasonable distance. This means a lot less pollution and a fitter populace as well,” said Sen.

According to him, Hidco will also hold a design contest where residents will be asked to submit their designs of pavements as well as roads that are pedestrian friendly. The designs will then be reviewed by a committee before the best or a combination of factors from the various entries are incorporated into the planning of new sidewalks and roads.

New Town has barrier-free, wheelchair-friendly sidewalks that have ramps at regular intervals. There are also bicycle-friendly pavements that have clearly demarcated tracks for cyclists.

The township has 11km of cycle tracks and another 20km are being planned. In addition, another 20km stretch has been identified that will be converted into bicycle tracks.