[sustran] Re: Walking in Mumbai :Good News

[Kanthimathi Kannan]

Dear all


Sounds Interesting!!


Regards


Kanthi


A pilot project to survey the state of footpaths and pedestrian
infrastructure between the busy Andheri railway station and Seven Bungalows
has been initiated by the environment cell of the Mumbai Regional Congress
Committee (MRCC). The aim is to enable the creation of a walking policy and
a manual to aid the preparation of pedestrian-friendly policies.

The project will be implemented in four stages. The first step will entail
identification of the key problems of pedestrians. In the second stage, a
comparative analysis with other cities will be done to see how certain
aspects of pedestrian infrastructure there could be emulated in the city’s
environment. Proposing a walking policy and a walking manual will follow.
Lastly, various civil society groups will be empowered to take up walking
environment improvement projects.

The brain behind the initiative, Rishi Aggarwal of MRCC’s environment cell,
said it is an attempt at creating a good walking environment for the city’s
harried pedestrians. He pointed out that according to Mumbai Metropolitan
Region Development Authority’s comprehensive transport survey, out of the
2.5 crore trips made by commuters in the city every day, 1.5 crore are of
pedestrians. The need for pedestrian-friendly policies in the city is thus
immense.

The inspiration behind the initiative, said Aggarwal, is Bogota’s former
mayor Enrique Penalosa, who is credited with making the Columbian capital
pedestrian-friendly. Aggarwal said such initiatives could be taken up at the
local level by citizens across the city and the state — to study the
conditions of the pedestrian infrastructure — and then they can act as
pressure groups so that their elected representatives initiate policy
changes at the state level.

The chairperson of the cell, Puja Sukhija, said, “The environment cell
intends to take up initiatives which lead to change at the policy level, as
well as small, local level change that’s immediate. In this case, for
example, highlighting hurdles to walking, like paver blocks placed on the
footpath to the concerned authorities, could provide the pedestrians some
relief.”


http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_soon-a-policy-to-make-walking-in-mumbai-a-less-harrowing-experience_1433625