by Sakshi.Dayal@timesgroup.com

In the city’s new sectors, built along Southern Peripheral Road and Dwarka Expressway and offering plush real estate, pavements have simply not been built in most areas. And you thought the basics come first?

Every traveller is a pedestrian at some stage of his or her travel, say the Indian Road Congress’ Guidelines for Pedestrian Facilities. Stating that footpaths are “very significant” in urban transportation, the document adds, “In view of the paradigm shift from ‘moving the vehicles’ to ‘moving the person’ while planning for transportation facilities in cities, provision of integrated and barrier free pedestrian facilities is essential to ensure inclusive mobility.” 

 

In Gurgaon, however, this guideline appears to hold little value. The city is now developing along the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) and Dwarka Expressway, the areas collectively known as the ‘new sectors’.

And while premium condominiums aggressively woo homebuyers, the roads leading to them are unwalkable. Most don’t even have footpaths. The SPR, which connects NH-8 to Gurgaon-Faridabad road, sees heavy traffic all day, of which a high volume is of heavy vehicles.

With scores of gated condominiums, and office and commercial complexes located along the stretch, SPR also sees high pedestrian movement. Despite this, footpaths barely exist along the 12km road. For Nitya Rai, whose office is located along the SPR in Sector 66, even walking to a cab parked only a few metres away at the end of a workday is a scary prospect. “I travel to my home in South City-2 by cab every day. The location that the app picks up is on the other side of the road, which is easily walkable, but I request the cabbies to take a U-turn and to pick me up. Not everyone is keen on doing this, especially during peak hours, so I frequently have to argue with cab drivers,” Rai said. 

 

Not everyone can afford cabs. Umesh Kumar, who works as a gardener at a residential society along SPR, walks along the main road twice everyday.

“Walking on the road is intimidating, especially with trucks speeding through the area at all times of the day. I am trying to save money for a bicycle, but that will take me a few more months. Until then, I just have to be alert,” said Kumar.

Footpaths are missing across most of New Gurgaon. Near Worldmark in Sector 65, for example, no footpaths have been built. “I always slow down when I drive here as pedestrians are walking on the roads. Drivers have to constantly be on the lookout to make sure they don’t hit anyone. If the administration creates just this basic infrastructure, it will not only help pedestrians but also motorists by streamlining traffic movement,” Sailesh Yadav, who resides in the area, said.

In other areas, concrete covers of drains have become makeshift footpaths.

This is the case along the road at Tulip Chowk in Sector 69. But here, too, like on pavements in other parts of the city, street food vendors have encroached on the space. “Ours is among the busiest roads in the area, because of which it also sees a higher number of pedestrians. It isn’t just the people living in or working in societies who frequent the area, but also people from nearby villages such as Badshapur and Palra,” said Kunal Kumar, a resident of Sector 69. 

 

He added: “People are walking on the narrow drain covers along the road, but this is not a solution. Commuters can’t be constantly adjusting and making do with shortcuts. The administration needs to build footpaths in the more populous parts of new sectors at least.”

Santosh Mishra, who lives in Sector 83, added, “Very few places in the new sectors have footpaths, even though there is significant pedestrian movement. The administration should not be waiting for people to move in before they create basic infrastructure.”

He added, “They are working in reverse — the area should have been made habitable before residents moved in. But it is still not too late. If they work quickly now, they can create footpaths for the convenience of pedestrians and ensure that people are able to safely commute from one place to another.”

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