Page 58 - HUDCO-SHELTER-APR21

POLICY REVIEW

Government ban on smoking at It is pertinent to note that this environment. Some use it for
all public spaces. Whether it is shop doesn't provide any social cultural exchanges
literally true or it is just a ban necessary items for household or organized or permi ed by State;
with no actual implementation reduce the cost of households as whereas some others use it for
for clean and safe environment specified in Street Vendor policy. anti-social or productive
requires to be studied. It has Hence, selection of site is not purposes with or without
been observed that in many justified. permission. The example of
instances permissions to set up a Small eating joints have also former type of activities are yoga
shop selling items including been allowed to function from in Shanghai, China; Rahgiri
cigare es on footpaths is given the middle of a footpath. Many activities in Gurgaon and Delhi
by municipal institutions. In such spaces are located near or public viewing of World Cup
many cases, such shops are institutional buildings serving matches on public screen at
located next to the co-operative the population and creating a Cyber Hub, Gurgaon. However,
housing societies housing a safety net during daytime. there are plenty of examples of
population of 5000-6000, which However, at nights, it alternates misuse of footpaths such as
directly impacts the health of as spaces with dark corners looting, eve-teasing, and
residents. It is not only the shop hindering free movement due to obstruction of pathways along
location which works as less negotiable space for with other informal activities.
adversary in this case but whole walking. The location of toilets on
day people gather at the shop to footpaths hinders unfe ered
Spatial Planning and Impact on
smoke, impacting the movement on the pathway.
Safety
environment negatively on one During the commonwealth
hand and leads to stoppage of Public spaces, in addition to Games, public toilets have been
movement of people on the on providing free accessible space, provided in the middle of
footpath on the other (figure 4). protect and enhance the pavements. Most of these public
facilities remain closed or have
Figure 4: Footpath encroached by street vendors as well as EDMC for kiosk design issues which make these
places unsafe for women. Also,
no monitoring or evaluation has
been carried out for be er
utilization of these services. The
operation and maintenance
(O&M) is poor also leading to
harassment of women. Most of
the toilets are located on the
corner of a cross section of two
roads. The location may have
been chosen for be er
accessibility. However, in cases
where there is no commercial
activity space nearby, what is
the need of providing a public
convenience? Is it to promote the
Source: Photo by Author

56 HUDCO-HSMI Publication