Walk-shop organised to emphasise on safety of pedestrians in Gurugram

A unique event walk-shop was organised in collaboration with Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), World Resources Institute India, Raahgiri Foundation, FIA Foundation and Suburb Magazine to engage the pedestrians in terms of road safety in Gurugram on Sunday.

The title of the walk-shop was “Let’s Make Gurugram Walkable.” The aim was to spread awareness among various communities about inclusive street design and identifying the major issues by conducting small walks with school children, RWAs, NGOs and neighbourhood communities.

During the walk-shop, the attendees were informed that the city has witnessed one of the highest fatality rates in road accidents in 2018.

While speaking to CitySpidey, Sarika Panda, Co-Founder of Raahgiri Foundation said, “The whole agenda of this walk-shop was to involve children, RWAs, civic authorities to understand the real issues and come out with a solution as per needs of people.”

The event saw the participation of kids from Mount Olympus School, Ansal University, American Montessori Public School with teachers, various RWAs and independent volunteer groups. It provided opportunity to everyone to realise the importance of walkable and safer streets.

During the walk-shop, people were divided in four groups to walk down four demarcated routes around Mount Olympus School. The exercise included documenting four stretches, assessing different elements on the street which were either good or bad. 

The whole exercise was reviewed by MCG’s Chief Engineer Raman Sharma who keenly listened to all the presentations by kids and adults and assured to act immediately at some of the highlighted points.

During the session, they pointed that around 50 per cent of people walk on foot or cycle to their destinations in Gurugram. They pointed that the city lacks on appropriate infrastructure to meet the requirement of pedestrians. They called for sustainable transport systems to provide healthy and happy living to the people.

“It is ironical that while only 9 per cent of the population in Gurugram commute through cars but 95 per cent city infrastructure is developed keeping them in mind,” said Panda.

“Pedestrians and two-wheelers are most vulnerable road users. Even though IRC mandates at least 1.8 m wide footpaths, one can hardly find pedestrian paths that are universally accessible and free of fixed utilities,” she added.