UPDATE: The public consultion meeting has been postponed to June 25.
On Tuesday, for the first time, the residents of Bengaluru will have a say in whether a city’s roads is to be made pedestrian only. The street in question is the iconic Church Street in the Bengaluru’s city centre which in 2018 got a multi-crore cobblestone makeover.
The public consultation will be headed by BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad at the Matteo Cafe on the same street on Tuesday, June 18, at 3 pm.
A note by the BBMP said that the civic body has developed the Church Street as per TenderSURE guidelines and carries a high volume of pedestrian movement all-round the day and during the night as well. It has been opined in many meetings at the level of the government to make this street a pedestrian-only zone for at least restricted hours on each of the days
“The public has been invited to share its opinion, along with officials from respective departments, local residents and owners of commercial establishments for the restriction of vehicular movement and to convert Church Street into a pedestrian zone. A meeting will be held under the chairmanship of Hon'ble Commissioner,” BBMP said.
Other than the BBMP Commissioner, Additional Traffic Police Commissioner Harishekaran will also be present in the meeting.
At the time of the street’s makeover, it was proposed that all motorised transport will be banned from the road but it did not materialise due to pressure from a certain section of citizens
The conversation on pedestrian-only roads have resurfaced as the Chief Minister in his February budget had mentioned that commercial hubs of Church Street, Brigade Road and Commercial Street will be converted into pedestrian-only zones. The budget had promised at least 50 km of pedestrian roads.
The move has been welcomed by many, as pedestrians in Bengaluru have suffered. According to statistics maintained by Bengaluru City Traffic Police, 40% of the total number of people who died in road accidents in 2018 were pedestrians.
Anusha Chitturi, a member of The Footpath Initiative, said, “This is definitely a welcome move. Right now we have normalised motorised transport so much that we have forgotten that pedestrians do exist. This way it will change the mindset in the right direction. Moreover, in all budgets it is very difficult to figure out how much money is allocated for non-motorised transport.”
“These experiments have been tried out in various parts of the world, including in India. These have resulted in various benefits. Not only environmentally but also socio-economically. Walking gives a sense of equity and also trade activity increases for every kind of business, including street stalls,” she added.