A much needed break from the usually traffic-laden Laxmi Road, the Pedestrian Day organised by the Pune Municipal Corporation today restricted vehicles from plying on the road from 11 am to 8 pm.
Thousands of people thronged the street to take advantage of PMC’s pedestrian street initiative. Street vendors selling clothes, fruits, hair clutchers, pani puris, and countless other items in the middle of the road was a sight to behold. A young boy ran around as two little girls played hopscotch on the road. A little further, kids acted as the game pieces and enjoyed a huge game of snakes and ladders pasted on the ground. Walking down the street, one finds senior citizen Arvind Bhate with his karaoke bar set up. “My only objective is to provide enjoyment to people. I stay in Vadgaon Sheri but my friend stays nearby and he informed me about the event, so here I am. Both of us thought we should spread joy among people,” he exclaimed.
Raju Kulkarni and Rachna Kulkarni enjoying a walk on the vehicle-free street.
Pedestrians have an extremely difficult time navigating the streets of the city due to poor traffic rule enforcement and lack of footpaths. Pune is also the 2nd most congested city in the country and 7th in the world according to the TomTom Traffic Index, making life even more difficult for pedestrians. Parisar, an NGO working on lobbying and advocacy for sustainable development, set up multiple posters highlighting pedestrianised streets across the world like the Consell de Cent in Barcelona and Chandni Chowk in Delhi. Live performances, street plays, and music events were also organised in the morning and evening.
“We celebrate mother’s day, father’s day, etc to appreciate those things in our life. In the same way, pedestrian day is to appreciate and acknowledge pedestrians. We suggested Laxmi Road for the event to PMC as Pune City’s development plan and Pune Comprehensive Mobility Plan says that this road should be pedestrianised,” Aditya Chawande from Parisar said.
Advocating for reduced vehicular emissions through reduced car dependency is also one of the stated goals of the event, highlighting the increasing recognition among administrators about the perils of private transport. Enjoying the easy walk, pedestrian Raju Kulkarni said, “I have never seen Laxmi road this vacant and it is a great experience to walk here like this.” His wife Rachna Kulkarni added, “The road seems extremely wide as there are no vehicles. You don’t have to worry while walking about crashing into oncoming traffic and neither do you have to worry while crossing the road. It is a great initiative.”
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