Bengaluru: Greater Bengaluru Authority’s (GBA) ‘Safe Footpaths’ drive, launched on July 1 to reclaim pedestrian space and remove encroachments, covered 1,225km of footpaths across the city’s five corporations till Aug 31.The drive was scheduled to conclude by Aug-end, but the exercise has been extended until Sept 3. West and North corporations had recorded the highest coverage, with 280km and 275km, respectively, till Aug 31. Bengaluru Central corporation covered 246.8km, South 244km, and East 179.6km during the two-month period.“The most effective outcome of this is that permanent encroachments by commercial establishments have been removed and the footpaths have been reclaimed. We must acknowledge this,” said Bengaluru North City Corporation (BNCC) commissioner Pommala Sunil Kumar, adding that BNCC covered another 20km on Sept 1 and the civic body would now focus on repeat offenders.BNCC had set a target of covering 333km of footpaths, of which 32km falls under white-topping, bringing the effective target for the drive to 301km.Kumar said the corporation’s earlier ‘Walkaluru’ initiative, under which officials walked around 50km of the city’s footpaths, had helped identify the extent of encroachments. “North corporation showed the way by walking on footpaths and clearing them for pedestrians,” he said.He added that BNCC has also earmarked Rs 25 lakh per ward for footpath restoration. “Removing encroaching vendors was a huge task earlier. Now that there is political will, we’ve been able to do a lot of work,” he said.
