Pavements in Puducherry eaten up by food joints and shops

Crackdown on encroachments will be launched, says an official

Pavements in several areas of Puducherry have been totally encroached on by roadside hotels and food joints leaving little or no space for people to use any of the pathways. While lack of pavements on several arterial roads is already proving to be a problem, protecting whatever little infrastructure is available is now turning out to be a daunting task with the authorities turning a blind eye to the rampant encroachments.

A visit around the city showed that most of the footpaths and pavements are occupied by two-wheelers, food joints, vendors, tea stalls extending their stands, signboards, and generators kept by shopkeepers, mannequins.

For instance, on Jawaharlal Nehru Street, Bussy Street and S.V. Patel Salai, encroachments are rampant. Though a number of shops on J.N. Street are rented out by the Puducherry Municipality, the shopkeepers and business establishments have extended their shops on to the road completely occupying them. Several shops have used the pavements for storing their goods taking away their primary utility.

At S.V. Patel Salai and Bussy Street, food joints have spread out chairs and tables on pavements. Though most of the eateries and establishments functioned from their own premises they continue to occupy the pavements. Many residential-cum-commercial areas are facing this problem, including Reddiyarpalayam, Anna Salai and Kamaraj Salai, which are turning into food hubs.

According to S. Ayappan, a resident of Thattanchavady, “Walking on footpaths on J.N. Street and Mission Street is next to impossible. These roads have footpaths, but there is really no space to walk on them. On Mission Street, two-wheeler rental outlets have extended their business onto the footpath by using the space for parking vehicles.”

According to the guidelines of Indian Road Congress, roads with pedestrian traffic are supposed to have a footpath with a minimum of 1.5 metres. However, in Puducherry, the remaining footpaths have been taken over by shops and food joints.

The authorities seem to be completely oblivious to the encroachment, say residents.