TRIPUNITHURA: Broken, crumbling and encroached upon, the footpaths here call for the attention of the authorities. Owing to negligence by the municipality, the footpaths have been in the same condition in spite of lakhs of rupees being allocated for its maintenance in many budgets through the years. This year’s Tripunithura municipality budget allocated Rs 35 lakh for renovating the footpaths here and has mentioned an initiative to move encroacher on the footpaths. However, now no measures have been taken by the municipal authorities until now. A local T A Jose said that the roads are narrow and the slabs covering the roadside drains make the footpaths. “Pedestrians are injured due to misaligned slabs making footpaths. Also, many of these slabs are broken. Heavy traffic on the roads makes the renovation of the footpath a necessity,” he said.According to P V Antony, a local as well as a shop owner here, said that the municipality has turned a blind eye towards the encroachments on footpaths and pedestrians do not have enough space to walk. “Municipality officials take bribe from the shop owners on the either side of the road and let them encroach upon the footpaths,” he added. Tripunithura Municipal Chairman R Venugopal said that the renovation works of the footpaths will be launched soon. “The encroachments on the footpaths will be removed. The municipality and Public Works Department will jointly complete the renovation work within three months,” the chairman said.
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