(Above and below) Open manholes on a footpath at Janpath in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 10: A few days ago, Sudhakar Patra, 45, fell into a manhole on the footpath beside Janpath and hurt himself.

This is not an isolated incident. A number of pedestrians have had similar experiences on the same stretch with concrete slabs missing in several places.

There are also a large number of manholes along the footpath between Vanivihar Square and Rupali Sqaure. This situation is the result of an ongoing road expansion work in the area.

Pedestrians are having a harrowing time with the ongoing road expansion work and illegal parking has added to their problems. The lack of a proper pavement force people to walk on the busy roads, making them vulnerable to accidents.

“In the evening, the road gets so crowded that it becomes very difficult to walk on but we have no option but to walk on the busy road,” said Nilakantha Mishra, a local resident.

He also requested the authorities to construct the footpath at the earliest so that pedestrians could walk safely.

Walking on the footpaths is all the more difficult because of encroachments. In some stretches, vehicles are also parked on the pavements causing discomfort to pedestrians. Moreover, careless workers have also dumped construction material on the footpath creating further problems for pedestrians.

“Footpaths are meant for pedestrians and not for parking and other business. The authorities must take concrete action against the encroachers,” said Nirmala Sethy, another pedestrian.

According to the traffic department, the problem of illegal parking would be dealt with strictly. “We have already started penalising people who park their vehicles on the road.

But at the same time, there should be enough parking slots for the residents,” said a senior police officer of traffic department. He also said action would be initiated against the encroachers soon.

On the other hand, Manoranjan Tripathy, executive engineer of roads and buildings division, said the construction of footpath would be completed as soon as possible.

“Due to the ongoing work on drainage and construction of an approach road, it is taking some time but we will ensure the comfort of pedestrians at the earliest,” he said.