Footpath in Aamgola Road is occupied, people face difficulty in walking. photo awakening
Jagran correspondent, Muzaffarpur. Tea and snack shops are running on the footpaths on both sides of all the main roads of the city. Somewhere there is a decorated fruit, flower and vegetable market. Who can say about the footpath shopkeepers, the permanent shopkeepers have also kept the goods of their shops on the footpath.
Due to encroachment and illegal parking, pedestrians are not able to find footpath for walking. They have to walk on the road amidst the high speed of vehicles. The Municipal Corporation is not able to free the footpaths from encroachment for pedestrians. If Muzaffarpur is to shine, the footpaths will have to be freed from encroachers.
Bibiganj resident Sanjay Kumar Singh says that a tea-paan and snack shop is running on the footpath of Station Road. Where there is space left on the footpath, an auto stand has been made. In such a situation, pedestrians have to move ahead battling the traffic jam. Railway passengers are facing the most problems. Many times, they even miss their train due to lack of space to reach the station. There are offices of Municipal Corporation and District Administration in Station Road. as well as
The route to Collectorate, Court and Sadar Hospital also passes through Station Road. Thousands of people come and go from the station on foot to the Collectorate and District Court. In such a situation, they face problems due to encroachment on the footpath.
Motijheel resident Ashok Rai said that pedestrians do not get space to walk in Motijheel, the main market of the city. The footpaths on both sides of the market are occupied by permanent shopkeepers. Shopkeepers have arranged their shop's goods on the footpath. Along with the goods, a board advertising the shop has been put up on the footpath.
Employees' bicycles and motorcycles also remain parked illegally on the footpath from morning till night. The space left by permanent shopkeepers has been taken over by temporary shopkeepers. Soni Kumari, a resident of District School Road, said that the footpath of Club Road connecting Pani Tanki Chowk to Mithanpura Chowk, which is one of the busiest roads of the city, has become a food court.
There are less in the morning but in the evening more than a hundred fast food shops are set up on the footpath. On the other hand, banks, malls and local shopkeepers have converted the footpath into parking. People have converted the footpath in front of a mall on Club Road into a bicycle and motorcycle stand. Schools-colleges, malls-markets, parks-hotels and bank offices are also located along this road. Due to this there is heavy traffic pressure on this road.
Due to the presence of schools, colleges and coaching institutes, a large number of students and school children have to travel on foot through this route. Due to Jubba Sahni Park, people come here with family in the evening. The problem is that the footpath on both sides of the road is no longer passable.
Jawahar Lal Road resident Pramod Chakraborty said that Jawahar Lal Road has the city's main Ghirni Pokhar vegetable market which is held only in the morning. There is no shortage of space here, yet vegetable shops are set up illegally on the footpath in Jawahar Lal Road in the morning and evening. From Arya Samaj Mandir to Kalyani Chowk, more than a hundred vegetable vendors sell vegetables on the footpath. People park two-wheelers and four-wheelers on the road and buy vegetables. Due to this, Jawahar Lal Road gets jammed after 4 pm. Pedestrians also face a lot of trouble.
They have to look for a way to move forward amidst the traffic jam. More or less, the condition of footpaths is the same in all areas of the city. It is the responsibility of the Municipal Corporation to keep the footpaths encroachment free. The corporation runs a campaign to remove them but its effect does not last more than an hour or two. Rajiv Kumar Sinha said that unless the Municipal Corporation takes strict action against encroachment, this problem will not be solved.