Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

With the present rate of development, there is no doubt that the coastal city of Mangalore will wear an entire new look in near future.

But the sad part is that the basic infrastructure of the city is still crippling. While the newly laid concrete roads have been cut open in several parts of the City, footpaths are missing in several main roads of the City and the worst hit are the pedestrians among others.

In fact, huge potholes on almost every road in the city make the pedestrian think twice before they start walking on the road as rainwater-filled potholes are a nightmare to pedestrians.

Violation of rules

If the MCC and PWD have been the reason for the ‘missing’ footpaths, a number of shop owners have ‘swallowed’ the pedestrian paths. As a result, a number of roads in City either do not have footpaths or they have a very narrow footpaths just for namesake.

Though the MCC rule states that the ground floor of the complexes and high-rise buildings must be reserved for parking space, there are more number of violators than those who have been following the rules.

On the other hand, there are a couple of roads without footpaths! They include the recently laid K S Rao Road, Railway station road, some stretches of Hampankatta road and Kankandy- Jeppu roads among others. The worst hit on these stretches are school children, who risk their life to reach their destination.

The poor drainage system is adding to the already existing chaos in City.
It is said that the drainages in Mangalore need to be bigger when compared to other regions as Mangalore receives much more amout of rainfall than any other region.

Commissioner buys time

Speaking to City Herald, Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner Dr K N Vijayaprakash agreed that footpath problems do exist in the city.

“There is a need to widen the roads and improve the drainage system for better footpaths.” Explaining the challenges being faced while undertaking development works, he said the City is growing fast and there are around 3.20 lakh vehicles.

This sudden growth of traffic and nature of this landscape is quite challenging, he said and added that it may take some more time before the system is in place.
Till then, pedestrians will have to bear the brunt.