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The Maharashtra government has instructed all municipal corporations to allocate at least one per cent of their annual budget towards road-safety and pedestrian-awareness measures. The directive requires creation of a separate budget head and encompasses 14 detailed actions such as bi-annual footpath audits, removal of encroachments, install of tactile paving at transport hubs and setting up an online grievance portal with a 15-day resolution timeline. The move follows a Supreme Court of India order and comes ahead of the state's civic-body elections.
The Maharashtra government has issued a resolution instructing every municipal corporation in the state to set aside at least one per cent of its annual budget for road-safety and pedestrian-awareness efforts. The order directs that civic bodies must open a distinct budgetary head dedicated only to such measures. Advertisement
The resolution is in response to a public interest litigation filed by S Rajasekaran, in which the Supreme Court emphasised the need for improved pedestrian safety and traffic discipline. Under the Government Resolution (GR) issued by the state's Urban Development Department, civic bodies must implement 14 specific directives.
Key among these is the requirement to install tactile paving at major public-transport hubs like bus stands, metro and railway stations to aid visually-impaired pedestrians. Civic bodies are also mandated to coordinate with traffic departments for seamless pedestrian access, designated waiting areas and tactile routes.
The GR further instructs that every six months municipal corporations must conduct foot-path audits via registered agencies. These must prioritise crowded zones such as markets, schools, colleges, transport terminals and tourist spots. The audit report is to be submitted to the Urban Development Department along with a time-bound repair plan.
Other obligations include: removal of encroachments from foot-paths and pedestrian corridors; ensuring adequate lighting, cleanliness and CCTV surveillance on pedestrian subways and bridges; and compliance of zebra-crossings with standards set by the Indian Roads Congress and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
Each municipal corporation is required to set up a dedicated 'Accessibility and Pedestrian Cell' to manage planning, implementation, maintenance and citizen complaints. The GR also demands identification of accident-prone areas in coordination with the police, followed by deployment of safety personnel where required.
Furthermore, the resolution mandates that at least 20 per cent of a city's roads are surveyed annually to identify the need for new pedestrian crossings and to promote non-motorised transport such as walking and cycling under the Motor Vehicles Act.
The GR also demands that civic bodies establish an online grievance portal where citizens can report issues like damaged pavements, encroachments or faulty pedestrian infrastructure, with complaints expected to be resolved within 15 days.
It is worth noting that this directive arrives ahead of the forthcoming civic-body elections in Maharashtra, scheduled for January 2026. While the one-per-cent allocation may be modest, the formalisation of dedicated funding signals an attempt to shift from ad-hoc to systematic investment in pedestrian and road-safety infrastructure.
Source PTI
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