80-year-old files court petition seeking more footpaths on Bengaluru roads
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Bengaluru: Enough is enough — or so he thought.
After 11 years of appeals, complaints, invoking of the RTI Act, and meeting several officials from multiple govt departments, Bengaluru resident Vijaykumar D V, 80, has filed a PIL in the high court against the state govt, BBMP and DULT, seeking to have enough footpaths in the city to make its roads safe for pedestrians.
In his PIL, Vijaykumar has urged the court that a special purpose vehicle or an empowered committee be created to enforce a judicial order to address the issue.
"Bengaluru's roads don't even guarantee the basic right to walk safely," he said. "This is not just about footpaths, it's about accessibility, equality, and dignity."
Vijaykumar had moved to Bengaluru from Chitradurga when he was 69. Once here, all he was looking forward to was the sombre somnolence of a superannuated man.
Instead, Vijaykumar was forced to risk his life and limb every single day -- just trying to get to the nearest bus stop on Tank Bund Road, Mico Layout, a walk that should ideally take no more than 10-15 minutes. With no proper footpath and only narrow drains covered haphazardly with stone slabs, Vijaykumar was forced to walk on the busy roads with traffic whizzing by.
"For more than a decade, I tried everything — from RTIs to meeting BBMP officials, but nothing changed.
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Filing a PIL was my last resort," the Mico Layout resident said.
Sharing further details of the circumstances that led him to filing the PIL, Vijaykumar said: "Back in June 2014, near Binnypet Garden on Tannery Road, I saw a man using crutches and a visually challenged woman struggling to walk on the road because there was no footpath. That imagery never left me. I realised I was not alone, grappling with this ordeal."
In 2019, when he met the engineer in charge of the area and the then BBMP commissioner, the officials admitted in writing that construction of footpaths was not a discretionary matter, but a legal obligation.
Yet, nothing changed.
According to Vijaykumar, BBMP continues to prioritise projects for traffic movement. "They spend crores on roadworks, flyovers, and underpasses. But what about the basic right to walk safely? What about senior citizens and persons with disabilities? Even today, what passes for a footpath are just open drains, with some stone slabs thrown on top unevenly," he said.
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