Pic: The newly constructed footpath with increased height has inconvenienced the residents of Kalghatgi Road in DharwadDharwad: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is constructing a footpath on Kalghatgi Road in Dharwad. However, this footpath is halting the movement of residents of adjacent houses and commercial buildings. As there is no smooth access, residents have approached NHAI and HDMC officials to rectify the difficulty. They say most of the residents are senior citizens, and they cannot climb up to the footpath from their gate. Now they have sought the intervention of the deputy commissioner.In a memorandum submitted to the DC, about 50 residents said that the footpath height in front of gates is raised, causing major inconvenience for them. “We need smooth access to the road as the majority of residents have ailments like knee pain, diabetes, and high blood pressure. It is feared that such an unscientific footpath is expected to cause major physiological issues in the coming days,” they added.Vani V Rao, CV Patil, Anita Rajanal, and others told TOI they are hearing of such a plan in Dharwad for the first time, where a footpath is coming in front of the gate with a higher height while smooth access is provided in other areas of Dharwad itself and in Hubballi, Belagavi, and Bengaluru. “Almost all houses in the stretch are now lower than the footpath and road, and rainwater will definitely gush into houses,” they rued.Sindhu Phadnis, Premanath Patil, SS Mamale Pattanshetti, Riyaz Jamkhandi, Uma Lingaraddi, and others said that they have already approached NHAI and HDMC officials in this regard. “When we approached elected representatives, they insisted we keep quiet,” they complained.Basavaraj Somannavar, Ashok Betgeri, SN Gudipati, Naveen Angadi, and others said the height of the footpath is almost from half to 2 feet, and it’s a herculean task even for youngsters to climb and descend on a daily basis. “Moreover, we will have to spend more money to reconstruct our compound and gate due to the curse of this unscientific and anti-residents footpath,” they asserted.Dharwad DC Divya Prabhu GRJ said: “We will instruct concerned officials to verify technical and scientific feasibility of people’s demand and submit a report. Once we receive the report, we will take action accordingly.”
