From parking space to bike shortcuts to trading stalls — footpaths in Chennai seem to be for everything apart from what they are meant to facilitate, that is, walking. As pavement construction continues, a look at the sad reality on the ground.
Large stretches of pavement were dug up and young trees uprooted by the GCC between Theosophical Society and Olcott School to make way for bicycle lanes. Citizens put up strong resistance and have forced authorities to rethink the project.
Many balwadis in the Perumbakkam resettlement colony have no power, no play equipment and in some centres, not even a teacher who can help the kids learn. This is a gross violation of ICDS norms.
A number of educational institutions in the city have been felling trees on campus to meet their infrastructural needs. Can transplantation, as tried by Anna University, provide a solution?
