A plea to Bombay High Court on footpath parking
Hereby, through this post of mine of my blog, I appeal and pray to the Honourable Bombay High Court, Mumbai on behalf of my fellow citizens to view the following corruption and issue an order to the concerned governmental officials over their illegal and inefficient actions.
The issue is illegal parking of vehicles on footpaths in Mumbai.
As elsewhere, footpaths in Mumbai also, are civic amenity provided here by BMC to pedestrians in Mumbai. Footpaths are foremost solution to traffic jams; if footpaths are not there one cannot imagine anything else other than traffic jams. Footpaths provide safety to pedestrians’ lives from possible traffic accidents, thereby, they also give meaning to traffic flow. On pedestrians’ side; footpaths provide safety cover to specifically pregnant ladies, senior citizens, disabled citizens, children, as also to other pedestrians. Even if pedestrians are engrossed in their worries they are safe from possible traffic accidents if they walk on footpath. Such is the importance of footpaths in Mumbai. Footpaths are symbols of decent and mature cities, and benchmark of civilisations.
RTO and Traffic police of Mumbai are the two governing bodies with regards to the said issue. It is an evident fact that most of Mumbai RTO and Mumbai Traffic police officials allow illegal activities in order to get bribe, these officials when not into corruption become inefficient in discharging their duties. Footpaths in Mumbai have fallen victim to their corruption and inefficiency and have become out of sight at some locations while at others they have become extinct.
To get bribes these officials have started to illegally rent footpaths to many millionaires who use it as their car parking in front of their buildings, housing societies and compounds. They usually pay Rs 1000 to Rs 3000 to these officials for a month’s parking on footpath. RTO towing trucks then do not tow these vehicles for illegal parking on footpath nor do they clamp vehicle or charge fines. Even transport organisations pay bribe to these officials who then allow their large transport vehicles ie: tempo and trucks to be parked on footpath.
Mostly, it is not the main road but smaller roads and cross lanes which is used for illegal renting by official so that their corruption could remain out of frequent eyesight, and continue to give them fruits of bribe. It is smaller roads and cross lanes which see more pedestrians as most people live in these lanes and cross roads.
The result of these is that pedestrians start to walk on the road as they find either no open footpath at all or broken access to continuous footpath walking ie: after little walking on footpath they have to frequently go down on roads as cars are parked at various sites on footpath thus continuous walking on footpath becomes impossible. On what basis these car owners and other vehicle owners park their vehicles illegally on footpath, and why their vehicles are not towed or why they are not charged fine, concludes to us just one answer ‘Bribery’.
Pedestrians in Mumbai have given up walking on footpath for the above reasons. They are forced to walk on roads, though roads are not meant for walking, so that officials can make illegal money and millionaire can break and mock the law. These pedestrians include pregnant ladies, senior citizens, disabled people and children as well. Pedestrians on road cause both traffic jam and fatal accidents. Corruptions of Mumbai RTO and Mumbai Traffic police give us wastage of time in traffic jam and loss of lives in accidents. Traffic jam is not just limited to wastage of time, it further leads to air pollution which is both degrading the environment and threatening life through diseases. These officials are making money by killing directly and indirectly Mumbai pedestrians. Alternate viewpoint could deem these officials as murderers.
A social issue which is going on is rehabilitation of slum dwellers on footpaths. If poor slum dwellers have encroached footpath and made slums on it, they have one reason that they don’t have money to purchase or rent up house. But these millionaires who can afford cars are doing same thing the other way, encroaching the footpaths though they are rich. What conscience allows to re-habilitate slum dwellers and hand over freed footpaths to Mumbai RTO and Mumbai Traffic officials so that they can sell lots to millionaire who own cars, Mumbai RTO and Mumbai Traffic Police Department should be asked of.
Housing societies have appeared as third menace to footpath encroachment, they make several alterations on footpath by tiling it with granite or erecting iron bars with chain and then proudly claim ownership to their adjacent footpaths. Another modes operandi is they hire well built watchmen who look after their illegally claimed footpath. Some millionaires the car owners have also applied locks to the chains making a cage like arrangement on footpaths.
Any argument made by pedestrian results in assault either by well built watchmen who the housing societies hire for this very purpose or with the illegal owner of that lot on footpath. These assaults are most of time bloody, this again raise the issue of law and order. I pray to the Honourable Bombay High Court, Mumbai to order all housing societies to submit a report about status of their adjacent footpaths to RTO and Traffic Police Department, along with other annual reports they submit to other departments.
I also bring to the notice of Honourable Bombay High Court, Mumbai that these actions of Mumbai RTO and Mumbai Traffic Police make a negative image of Mumbai in front of the world, as foreigners and ambassadors do notice this situation. Thus, this is validates us to assume that other countries would be looking to India as a rudiment country under corruption and maladministration right on the street level.
I thus pray, on behalf of my fellow citizens to the Bombay High Court, Mumbai to kindly seek a report from RTO Mumbai and Mumbai Traffic Police department on this issue, and issue an order to Mumbai Traffic Police Department and RTO Mumbai to make their officers abide by the law and bring an end to these illegal activities, also take strict actions against officials involved in this. I also pray to Bombay High Court to commute to legislature to legislate and make it mandatory for housing societies to submit a status report for their adjacent footpath to RTO and Traffic Police Department.
Through this prayer and appeal, I also like to seek the kind attention of Honourable Supreme Court of India to order all Honourable High Courts to take this matter for consideration and issue verdicts and seek reports from related governmental organisations of various cities, as this issue is also seen in other cities and towns of India.
