Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi: Why it is so difficult to walk in Indian cities

Citizen activists are taking unusual steps to push authorities for better pedestrian infrastructure.

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This is what Arun Pai says he learnt when he started asking people about their experience walking on the streets of his city, Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), in southern India.

This month he set up a "fun challenge" - called the 'world's longest footpath run' - which invited people to walk or jog on an 11km (8 miles) stretch of footpath and make a note of all the obstacles they encountered, like hawkers, garbage or broken slabs of concrete. Next, they were asked to rate the footpath on a scale of one to five.

"When you have specifics, it gets easier to ask the authorities to take action. Instead of telling your local politician "the footpaths are bad", you can ask him or her "to fix specific spots on a street," Mr Pai says.

Mr Pai, who is the founder of Bangalore Walks, a non-profit that promotes walking, is among several citizen activists who are pushing to make the country's roads more pedestrian-friendly.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98en7v43qzo

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