Hyderabad: Under the Shaikpet flyover, Mohammed sells vegetables from a stall that stands where a footpath should be. Asked about the footpath, he looked puzzled. “Woh kya hota hai? (what is that?)” he asked. When the word was explained to him, he smiled and nodded.
His is one of many stalls there. Vegetable vendors, paan shops, bakeries, juice centres, and cosmetics and clothes shops have turned the space into a mini shopping complex, while autos and two-wheelers zoom past in all directions. “It is difficult to walk. We have to look 360 degrees to be safe,” Fatima told Siasat.com, laughing.
She may laugh, but here, even a short walk is an exercise in avoiding traffic.
Three months after the Supreme Court declared walking on safe, demarcated footpaths a fundamental right, Siasat.com surveyed a stretch of the city. The survey ran from Srinagar Colony and Yousufguda, through Shaikpet and Tolichowki, down to Mehdipatnam and Attapur, and out to Sun City and Bandlaguda Jagir on the south-western side.
Where footpaths existed, most had become shopfronts, stalls, workshops or parking lots. Where they did not, people walked on the road.
Srinagar Colony to Karmikanagar: Pavements for business
In Srinagar Colony, Kamalapuri Colony and Karmikanagar, most footpaths are occupied by furniture shops, tea stalls or kirana stores. In Kamalapuri Colony, one footpath has been turned into a furniture shop outright. In Srinagar Colony, another is covered by mulgis, or small shop rooms.
“A decade ago, there used to be enough space for us to walk. Now every other person uses the footpath as a commercial space or to beat the traffic,” Rizwan, a Srinagar Colony resident, told Siasat.com.
“The footpaths are vanishing thick and fast. Pedestrians have to stick to the walls while walking on pavements,” said Sajjad, who lives in nearby Navodaya Colony.
For some, the footpath is their only workplace. In Yousufguda, Shyam runs a laundry service and irons clothes on a stand set up on the pavement. “I don’t have a permanent location to work. I have switched footpaths in various lanes of the locality over the last six to seven years,” he said.
In Karmikanagar, “the pavements here are narrow and most of them are used as parking spaces for two-wheelers,” said Akhil, a resident.
A pattern that continues
From the Shaikpet flyover, the pattern continues into Tolichowki. On 7 Tombs Road, a string of vegetable vendors stands beside a pile of garbage. Most declined to speak. One who did, on condition of anonymity, said, “Normally, we leave as the day ends. For now, we have not faced any difficulty from authorities but we don’t know when that day will come.”
Further along the busy road, two young boys squatted on the ground washing utensils beside their grandmother, surrounded by waste. Passers-by tossed litter a few feet from where they sat.
In the evening, as students of Hidayah Islamic International School poured out, autos, scooters, bikes, cars and minivans filled the road within minutes, leaving hardly any room to move.
Sheikh Nawaz, a parent, said it was an everyday scene. “I have to be very careful while trying to navigate my child towards our car. She is small and still doesn’t know how to cross the road. Besides, with this traffic and rash driving, even if you know, there is a full chance of getting injured,” he told Siasat.com.
Mehdipatnam to Gudimalkapur: ‘Why do we need them?’
On the Mehdipatnam-Gudimalkapur Road, vegetable vendors and other businesses have taken over the footpaths, and on some stretches, vendors sit on the street itself with their produce.
Here, some questioned whether footpaths were worth having at all. One passer-by pointed to a man relieving himself on a footpath. “Look at that. If this is what the footpaths are being used for, why do we need them?” he said.
Varun, waiting at the Mehdipatnam bus stop, agreed. “Actually, it is good that Hyderabad does not have footpaths. Otherwise, people would use them for dumping garbage, parking vehicles or as public toilets,” he said.
Not everyone saw it that way. “Yes, footpaths are very necessary. Pedestrians have to walk on the road due to the lack of footpaths, which puts pedestrians at risk,” said another man, who did not want to be identified.
‘No issue so far’ at Attapur
In Attapur, vegetable vendors set up stalls on the footpaths and furniture shops display their work on them. Those occupying them see little wrong with it.
“We found the space and set up our stall here four years ago. So far there has been no issue,” said Khalid, a vegetable vendor. Sudeep, from West Bengal, who works at a furniture shop, said, “I don’t see a problem with footpaths being used for business.”
Outside one house, the footpath had become a parking lot for five vehicles. Near the Deccan Elite Hotel, Kishore runs a tiffin centre on the pavement. “I have been running this centre for seven or eight years. I have not been asked to move by authorities,” he said.
Hydershakote and Sun City: A new suburb built without footpaths
Further south-west, the problem is not that footpaths have been taken over. In many places, they were never built.
The Hydershakote main road, which connects to the busy Sun City main road, has become one of the fastest-growing residential corridors on the western outskirts. Gated communities, schools and supermarkets have come up in recent years and the road is busy through the day.
Yet continuous footpaths are largely absent, and RTC buses leave little room even at the road’s edge.
It is worst during school hours and on Fridays, when a weekly vegetable market spreads across the walking space. A homemaker from Kendriya Vihar Phase 3, a gated community here, drops her children at the school bus stop every day.
“The biggest concern is the safety of school-going children. Every morning and afternoon, they are forced to walk on the main road because there is no proper footpath. RTC buses, school buses and other heavy vehicles use the same stretch, making it extremely risky for pedestrians,” she told Siasat.com.
“Fridays are particularly difficult because of the weekly market. Vendors occupy a large portion of the roadside, leaving pedestrians with no option but to walk on the road,” said another resident of the community.
A senior citizen who lives in the area pushed back on the idea that gated communities do not need footpaths. “A gated community does not mean people remain inside all the time. A continuous, well-maintained footpath is a basic civic necessity.”
“Constructing proper footpaths will protect students, reassure parents and make our neighbourhood safer for everyone,” said the principal of a pre-primary school in the locality.
Bandlaguda Jagir: No room in the lanes
In Bandlaguda Jagir, the main Sun City road towards Moinabad, has footpaths in parts, but they are uneven and hawkers, parked vehicles and utility infrastructure take up much of the space. The internal lanes have no footpaths at all, leaving residents to walk alongside cars, two-wheelers and autos.
With Sun City and Bandlaguda Jagir witnessing growing residential and commercial activity, residents say pedestrian infrastructure should not be treated as an afterthought. A proper, continuous and obstruction-free footpath, they believe, is essential to make neighbourhood roads safer for everyone.
The demand is simple: roads for vehicles and dedicated space for those who choose to walk.
“I have to walk on the road even when I am going just a short distance. With autos, bikes and cars passing by, it is not something you feel comfortable doing every day,” said a 20-year-old engineering student who lives in Bandlaguda Jagir.
On May 4, the Telangana High Court directed the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the traffic police and Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) to clear encroachments from footpaths across the city. In late June, it noted that no compliance report had been filed and gave them a final two weeks.
On the roads Siasat.com surveyed, there was little sign of it.
“Look at the road, everyone is walking wherever they can find space. That itself shows how badly we need good footpaths here,” said a resident passing by on the Sun City main road.
(Reporting by Mohammed Baleegh, Veena Nair, Rasti Amena and Zaheer Hasan)
(This is part 4 in a six-part series focusing on Hyderabad’s footpaths and pedestrian infrastructure. Click to read part 2 and part 3)
