Where is the footpath? In a no-win situation?

Where is the footpath? ‘The Hitavada’ has asked this question time and again in the past one month through at least a hundred images of the pathetic management of footpaths in the State’s Second Capital. As we proceeded with this campaign which our photographers Satish Raut and Anil Futane spearheaded with the help of a few readers, the administrators of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) slumbered, totally unbothered about the actual issue of a major point of mismanagement of the city. Perhaps, the civic authorities are waiting for good enough a proof of their own ineptness, as if the hundred-plus actual pictures do not make the grade of an evidence, as if they do not themselves ‘see’ the pathetic condition of footpaths in most parts of the city, as if they owe no responsibility towards the upkeep of such a fine facility that any city or town or even village needs, as if they -- the civic managers -- do not recognise the beauty-quotient the footpaths add to any road! This city of our very own, the beloved Nagpur, has had a dirty track record as far as footpaths or sidewalks or pavements are concerned. The people have never bothered even to think properly about the footpaths and their utility and beauty. The administrators have just failed to ensure that the footpaths remain footpaths and do not become victims of abuse by people.

The political community that boasts of leading the city, too, has never paid proper attention to the footpaths. But then, as some may ask, why do we bother ourselves about something as insignificant as footpaths? We are sorry friends, we do not treat footpaths as something insignificant. Much to the contrary, we attach a great importance to footpaths as a critical component in the architecture of roads. We believe that footpaths add a special stature and status to the road. That they make the roads have certain beauty, is one aspect of footpaths. But that they add a fantastic utility to the road’s total usage, is another aspect that lends the footpaths a special presence.

In literary terms, footpaths can be considered to live like unnoticed realities and utilities without which life remains somehow incomplete. The footpaths have a funny way to assert themselves. When they are in good shape and good use, the people never notice those. But when they are in a bad condition and under severe abuse -- like what we see in Nagpur in good number of places -- the people miss those and that too very badly. But then, this is only a description of people in a standard city that carries a sense of pride for itself in its heart and head.

In Nagpur, things are rather not so. With due apologies, in the manner and method of the Preamble to the Constitution of India, I suggest another statement about the people of Nagpur -- and also its administrators and leaders: We the people of Nagpur, having solemnly resolved to ensure that Nagpur remains a badly managed Second Capital of the State of Maharashtra ... And uncared for footpaths are one of the first signs of mismanagement of the city. There used to be a time when the city boasted of a good road system complete with most attributes of good road architecture. The city also boasted of being one of the first well-planned urban centers in the country.

It acquired its modern plan way back in 1936 when the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) was constituted. (It is another matter that the NIT now stands scrapped, but the city could really take pride in its plan.) All those boasts now have no justification at all, given the overall condition of civic management. Now what is in evidence is how a city can bomb its own wellness. Of course, a lot has been said and a lot more can be said of the current mess the city is witnessing in the name of modern development like cement roads or Metro Rail, to name only two. But the reference here is to a much deeper malaise -- of overall mismanagement -- of almost every aspect of civic amenities such as roads, footpaths, green-cover conservation, cleanliness and the like.

The manner in which we the people of Nagpur have indulged in a massive mess up of the attributes of a good, well-managed city, only leads to a feeling of frustration and disgust. And badly managed footpaths is one of the most evident symbols of the massive urban neglect of Nagpur. Not only are the footpaths encroached upon at countless places, but they also are ill-maintained, unkempt -- almost as if in a deliberate and rather conspiratorial manner.

Some may accuse us of making too harsh an allegation, so to say. But when the civic authorities continue with the neglect of simple facilities, utilities and amenities for long years despite a definite expression of popular disgust, then one gets tempted to accuse the civic authorities of a conspiratorial neglect. Of all this neglect, of all this mismanagement, of all this failed civic leadership, the footpaths are just one of the obvious symbolisms. In well-managed cities, the footpaths can be obvious addition to urban beauty. In Nagpur, the footpaths are now proving to be black spots that offend sight almost everywhere. On August 13, 2019, we had quoted a celebrated urban planner as saying, “A city rides on roads and walks on footpaths.” Today, that simple statement has no takers in our city of Nagpur as the people and the administrators and the leaders conspire to mess up our footpaths.

Our city offers very little scope to walk on footpaths and ride on roads. Since footpaths are either in bad shape or are occupied by encroachers, the city has to walk on roads, with little scope of a trouble-free ride on the roads per se. How do we resolve this issue? How do we wake ourselves up as citizens of Maharashtra’s Second Capital? Are we in a no-win situation? We leave these questions to everybody’s good sense.