Talk the walk

This campaign entitled ‘Miles of Bridges, Flyovers and Roads. Not an Inch to Walk’ suggests a public investment in infrastructure to cater to motorised vehicles. However, a quick browse of the ‘Bombay Mirror’ (the sponsor of this campaign) tells a different story - a story that makes reference to the working poor, such as: ‘encroached by fruit and vegetable vendors’; ‘crammed with rickshaws’; ‘encroached by slums and illegal hutments’; ‘illegal handcarts’. This campaign is not about the need for more and better pavements but about clearing those that are deemed to have illegally occupied them. Even if this were to happen, it would not make much of a difference as the real problem is that the pavements are disappearing in urban India through a combination of their importance not being recognised as well as its encroachment by middle-class ‘illegal’ garden extensions!