Focus on pedestrians’ convenience: HC to govt
The Bombay High Court on Friday batted for the safety and security of pedestrians and said it is time to focus on the convenience of pedestrians and their free movement on the streets of Mumbai. The HC has also asked the Union government to clarify its stand on making ‘parking proof ’ mandatory for potential customers at the time of purchase of a vehicle.
A division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Nitin Sambre also asked the Maharashtra government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to spell out the measures they have undertaken to ensure no obstacle comes in the way of pedestrians. The judges also asked the authorities to consider exploiting the ‘seaway’ for the public.
Justice Patil said, “It is high time we all focus on the smooth movement of pedestrians as in Mumbai, everyone has to walk a lot.”
The remark came in response to the submissions of Advocate General of Maharashtra who was reading out the list of measures undertaken by the Mumbai Traffic police to de-congest city’s roads.
During the course of hearing, the judges gave several suggestions to the government and the civic body to ensure the already choked roads of the city are freed from vehicular traffic to some extent.
Justice Patil said, “We see even narrow lanes are jammed by huge vehicles like the BEST buses. We suggest you can prohibit such huge vehicles from entering in narrow lanes. In case of buses, you can negotiate with the BEST to introduce mini buses.”
Referring to the vehicular traffic in Mumbai, the judges asked the government and the BMC to consider introducing underground parking but the counsels informed the policy has not been implemented due to ‘security’ reasons.