Mysore/Mysuru: Once an idyllic little city, Mysuru prided itself on its leisure and laid-back outlook to life where walking predominated among the modes of getting from one place to the other. Now the city is no longer a haven for pedestrians, thanks to unusable pavements both at the city centre and even on the arterial roads.

While footpaths are broken, uneven and with gaping holes on many roads in central areas, arterial roads that lead to residential pockets are fully covered with weeds and dirt. Take the Lingambudhi Lake Road for example, which was full of wild growth, forcing pedestrians to walk on the roads risking their life and limb.

This particular bad pavement caught the attention of Yuva Brigade Student Wing volunteers who along with students of NIE-IT cleaned the entire pavement that extended up to more than 500 metres. The day-long ‘shramdaan’ was held on Sunday and will continue next Sunday also as more such stretches have to be cleaned in the locality.

Over 55 students from NIE-IT and over 20 Yuva Brigade volunteers cleaned the road that leads from Lingambudhi Lake to Arivu School and collected one truckload of organic and inorganic waste that were sent to processing plants. There are other roads in the stretch including the Srirampura Preeti Layout Junction to Outer Ring Road, touching R.T. Nagar. These roads are preferred by morning and evening walkers and the pavements were not maintained. Parthenium and other weeds have covered the entire footpath and are creating a problem for motorists also as the curves are blocked. Many accidents have taken place with vehicles vrooming past and pedestrians walking on the road in the absence of footpaths. 

Convenor of Yuva Brigade Student Unit of Mysuru Prajwal Devaramani, Adarsha, Mahantesh, Skanda, Vinay and Girish, NIE-IT lecturer Harish, Mysuru City Corporation Health Officer Dr. D.G. Nagaraj, Ashwath and staff participated.