Encroachments eat into Nashik city footpath space

NASHIK: Residents of Nashik city are unable to use the footpaths at most places due to encroachments.
Some vendors have set up tea or food stalls on the footpaths in the city leaving no space for the pedestrians to move. Moreover, footpaths are not cleaned in most places across the city.
Recently, TOI visited some of the footpaths in the city and found that the footpaths are dirty with garbage dumped on them, particularly in the Meri and Peth Road areas.
Moreover, manholes are open without lids on the footpaths at two locations, which may lead to accidents there. There had been encroachments by kiosks, tea stalls and other snall businesses on the footpaths.
Abhishek Kale, a city resident, said there are footpaths but some of them are filled with vendor encroachment. In the Gangapur Road area, dozens of vendors have come up on the footpaths in the stretch between Prasad Circle and Shaheed Circle.
Manish Rawal, an industrialist, said the city constructs footpaths, but they are not maintained properly by the civic administration.
“The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has an anti-encroachment department, but we have never seen any action taken against encroachment on the footpaths by this department,” he said.
NMC commissioner Chandrakant Pulkundwar told TOI that the footpaths of the city should be pedestrian friendly and walkable for the citizens. “I have already directed the NMC’s anti-encroachment department to remove all the encroachments and make the footpaths walkable at the earliest,” said Pulkundwar.
NMC’s deputy commissioner (encroachment), Karuna Dahale said a special drive is soon to be started to make the city footpaths free from encroachments of vendors.