To involve citizens in its drive against encroachment on footpaths, the BMC is now planning to set up a complaint mechanism wherein the public can lodge their grievances about footpaths cramped with illegal kiosks.
When the BMC's complaint mechanism becomes a reality, it will help the civic body in addressing the issues in an organised manner.
The civic body's move comes after additional commissioner Ashish Sharma last month asked assistant commissioners of all 24 wards to visit streets in their respective wards every week, and take necessary actions if required.
Back then, Sharma had stressed upon the need of including citizens in the drive as currently there is no way through which a good samaritan can lodge a complaint about encroached footpath.
"As of now, there is no mechanism in the hands of the public through which they can complain about either encroached footpath or absence of 50 mt footpath," he pointed out.
Speaking to media persons earlier, Sharma had said that the condition of footpaths is a clear indicator of how concerned the BMC is about its citizens. "Things always start improving when you focus on them and these small changes can make few differences," he had remarked.
Subsequently, the BMC initiated work on improving conditions of footpaths on the Andheri-Ghatkopar link road. But, the work on the Western Express Highway (WEH) and WEH metro station to the Saki Naka junction is being hampered owing to hurdles like unauthorised parking and encroachments on footpaths, Sharma underlined.
Recently, Sharma visited A ward areas like Colaba, Nariman Point and found that the encroachment problem is much more serious in B ward areas, including Bhendi Bazar, Sandhurst Road, Masjid Bunder.
"In the past, everyone was casual about potholes. Now, it's a serious issue. We want the same seriousness in people about footpaths," he asserted, adding that the BMC wants to link the issues of roads, footpaths and hawkers.
