Bengaluru to launch Safe Footpath Campaign with Rs 70 crore allocation from July 1

The five municipal corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) will launch a citywide "Safe Footpath Campaign" on July 1 to clear commercial encroachments and upgrade pedestrian infrastructure across Bengaluru. Announced by Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, the initiative aims to secure pedestrian safety and enforce a recent Supreme Court judgment that declared the freedom to walk on well-maintained footpaths a fundamental right.

The state government has allocated ₹70 crore for the repair and improvement of nearly 2,000 kilometres of footpaths within the GBA limits. Out of Bengaluru's total road network of approximately 13,000 kilometres, authorities have identified about 2,000 kilometres of arterial and sub-arterial roads as priority corridors for the upcoming campaign.

Shop owners who have encroached on public walkways have been given until July 1 to voluntarily remove their goods, signboards, and other materials. Minister Gowda stated that once the deadline passes, civic authorities will begin forcibly removing encroachments and imposing heavy penalties on violators. He stressed that footpaths are public assets and commercial activities must remain within private premises.

In addition to clearing shop encroachments, the campaign will strictly prohibit parking on footpaths, with violating vehicles set to be towed away. GBA officials have also been instructed to identify abandoned vehicles parked on roadsides. Notice stickers will be affixed to these vehicles starting July 1, and any vehicles not claimed or removed within seven days will be towed and auctioned starting July 10.

The initiative comes amid high pedestrian casualty rates in the city. Minister Gowda highlighted that nearly 1,000 people die in road accidents in Bengaluru every year, with pedestrians accounting for approximately 30 percent of those fatalities. The government expects that safer, unobstructed footpaths will significantly reduce these numbers.

To further ease traffic flow, officials have also been directed to perform scientific pothole repairs, improve major junctions and traffic signals, and strictly prevent parking within 75 metres of signalised intersections.