Mumbai: Not a walk to remember, indeed

A walk that should take a mere ten minutes ends up taking 30 minutes of Paras Parekh's time — who walks to his office every day, situated next to the Masjid railway station, passing through the Yusuf Meherali Road.

"There is no other option but to walk as traveling by a vehicle takes longer. However, I can take my vehicle provided its tyres are not deflated by some unruly elements. Taxi is out of the question because they do not want to ply on this route most times. Walking takes so much time because you have to mind your way amid the encroachments and vehicles parked in huge numbers. You normally end up walking on the road because there is little space on footpaths," Parekh said. Parekh is in the logistics business and often travels to meet with clients.

When DNA walked the Yusuf Meherali Road stretch, and the distance of Kazi Syed street, Dontad street, Narshi Natha marg, and Dariyashtan street, there was barely any space for pedestrians. Although footpaths existed in many stretches of the Yusuf Meherali Road till the Mohammed Ali Road, they were either too narrow or blocked for pedestrians. This made road-crossing more difficult.

Many parts of the footpaths were broken, encroached by hawkers, and the width was erratic through the stretch. At two places, there were no footpaths at all as shops were put up while at some places, products of these shops consumed space thereby leaving space only for one pedestrian on the more than three-foot-wide footpath.

The kerbstones and corners on the footpaths have bad patches and sometimes dirty water flowing from restaurants thereby making the walking experience for shoppers even more difficult. Except for the Narshi street, no other by-lanes had any footpath.

Samuel street, one of the bylanes off YM Road, which took people to three schools in the vicinity from the Masjid station had no footpath. The narrow road had three lines for two wheeler-parking with goods truck frequenting the road.

"Walking is not a good experience here. At least there are some footpaths further ahead but not on this side," Ayub Siddiqui, a parent who had come to pick up his daughter, said. Frequent commuters said one had to be careful of handcarts and also from the passing vehicles. These, they said, made the walking more troublesome because people would snare or even abuse.

Those frequenting the road said that whatever little improvement they had seen after the high court banned hawkers up to a certain distance from stations had disappeared with time. "At least the court order made the walk from the station to office better. Now even that has gone," Parekh said.

On Tuesday, at around noon, when DNA took a walk, the BMC was on an eviction drive which saw most of the hawkers stay up and even open as soon as the truck had gone.

FOOTPATHS: NARROW AND FULL

The road is often clogged due to heavy traffic and hawkers on all sides of the footpath

1km Stretch

20 minutes Walking time

This includes a stretch of Yusuf Meherali Road and the bylanes around, which are around the Masjid railway station

TOO CONGESTED

When I used to live here, then also coming to my shop would take 15 minutes. Now, I’ve shifted and situation is even worse. There is hardly any space to walk and this road is too congested. 
— Lakhamsinh Gala, Shopkeeper

There is problem of walking. One can not even get onto the footpath if he or she has to cross the road because there are hawkers sitting everywhere. Also, the footpaths are narrow, which makes it difficult to walk
— Bharti Kotia, Shopper

I have lived here and our shop is also here. Walking is certainly never a good experience
— Kushal Jain, resident