Mumbai: One look at a road sign in Khar West and you’d have wondered who had signed off on it. A new road sign was installed right in the middle of a footpath at the junction of 15th Road in the area, blocking pedestrian movement. It was realigned on Sunday following intense criticism.An X user, @drifteternal_, had flagged the issue, slamming the civic administration and questioning the approval process. Others questioned BMC’s commitment to its newly launched Pedestrian First campaign. “What is the use of a footpath if citizens are prevented from using it due to obstructions on it?” said Khar resident Surendra Khubchandani.An official from BMC’s H-West ward laid the blame directly at the contractor’s door. “Work was carried out on the road as part of concretisation works in the city last year. However, the road signboard was installed by the contractor about a month and a half ago. It is a mistake on the contractor’s part. It should not have installed the signage in this manner. As soon as the issue was brought to our notice, we reinstalled it,” said the official.This wasn’t an anomaly, though—in April, BMC’s P-South ward officials removed a board displaying the name of a chowk that had been placed diagonally on a footpath in Goregaon West, again following much flak. Civic commissioner Ashwini Bhide had then advised all ward-level teams to be sensitive to public convenience and to follow standard operating protocols.Under its Pedestrian First initiative, BMC aims to free the city’s pavements of all manner of obstruction. In the first phase, encroachments on footpaths stretching 320km are to be removed.
