Ensure every footpath in the city is walkable

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This paper features a page where readers can write in about civic problems/or one particular vexatious issue that makes them more vulnerable or even puts them in danger.

A senior citizen has written in about a Prabhadevi footpath which is high and may need a gentle incline so that seniors can access it.

On the surface, this seems to be just about a footpath. We need to look at this holistically. So many pavements (if they exist at all) are extremely high across the city, and seniors struggle to access them.

Many are encroached upon, simply not there or broken in parts. A pavement is more than a pavement. It means freedom for seniors who can go out of their home independently, and so it gives them agency.

They do not have to be dependent on others to take them somewhere. Our roads are yet another challenge, but we need to first make our pavements walkable too.

Then, a good pavement spells safety. That safety has a direct impact on people, especially seniors who are afraid or stopped by their families from going out alone because of the road situation. They can get to their destination by pavement at least. So, a pavement is more than a footpath on so many counts - it is freedom.

There is the public factor in this too. People have encroached on pavements at will. Today, footpaths in many spaces have become an additional ‘lane' for our two-wheelers. So shameless and brazen has this become that the authorities have installed bollards on our pavements, cutting off access for wheelchair users. Will, vision and a complete look and overhaul of this difficult scenario are needed.