THE RIGHT TO WALK: A HYDERABAD PERSPECTIVE

Abstract:

Pedestrians in many Asian countries are treated “discriminately” by the authorities. There is often a common tendency of increasing the road space by decreasing the footpaths widths as they don’t constitute the “vote bank”. In an Indian city – Hyderabad, the citizens are being roused by an activist who has established the Right to Walk Foundation and is taking the battle for “Pedestrians Rights” literally to streets. The authorities are being asked some basic fundamental questions such as
1. Do the citizens of India have a Right to Walk?
2. Whose responsibility is it to provide for and maintain footpaths?
3. What is the mandatory width and height of footpaths?
4. What are the steps that the GHMC takes in order to ensure that encroachment, littering and urinating on footpaths does not happen? (For example, does the GHMC take parking issues into account while issuing trade licenses?)
5. What are the facilities provided for pedestrians to cross a road?
6. What are the facilities provided for commuters to use public transport?

With the global oil prices increasing, the governments asking people to conserve energy, it is a high time that we replicate this “Hyderabad Green Engagement Model” across Asia.