Students braved the morning chill on Tuesday to spread awareness on creating more footpaths for pedestrians.

Around 200 children from various institutes ran with placards to spread the message. Organised by non-government organisation Tarumitra, students from Don Bosco Academy, Notre Dame Academy and other schools started their sprint from near Patna zoo around 8am. The run concluded at the Carmel High School ground - a distance of around 2km. After the run, they had dahi chura (flattened rice) with jaggery.

Avinash Pratap Singh, the convener of the programme and a second-semester student of bachelor of business administration at St Xavier's College, said: 'It is sad that our city does not have footpaths in every area because of which pedestrians are forced to take to the roads. Among all the roads, Bailey Road needs a footpath as many government offices are situated near to it but the officials don't have any option but to walk on the road. Patna cannot be a smart city without enough footpaths.'

Sanjana, a Class VIII student of Don Bosco Academy, said: 'If there are more footpaths, pedestrians don't have to walk on roads. Lesser people on roads means lesser chances of accidents.'

Sanjana's classmate Samriddhi Chandra said walking on footpath would also boost fitness and health.

Samriddhi Shekhar, a Class IX student of Notre Dame Academy, said footpaths could address traffic problems in a much better way. 'Footpaths can help create a culture of walking among people. This would also reduce traffic load on roads,' said Shekhar.

Father Robert Athickal, the founder of Tarumitra, thanked the students for taking part in the run and talked about why the city needs more footpaths. 'The state government should not think of creating footpaths rather than building roads. Roads serve people who own vehicles - that is around five per cent. The government should think about them who cannot afford cars,' he said.

Andrea Ulloa, a student of Honduras-based Zamorano University, who has come to Tarumitra for a six-month internship programme, led the awareness run. 'In my country, pedestrians get preference as there are footpaths. Apart from jogging, people also exercise on the footpath but in Patna, very few places have footpaths,' said Ulloa.