India, Sept. 18 -- The city's footpaths may be getting a "Pedestrian First" push from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), but on the ground, pedestrians are still being squeezed into narrow strips of space.

Hawker stalls, parked vehicles, garages, cattle sheds, pipes and even accumulated mud have eaten into footpaths across several high-footfall stretches visited by HT. In some locations, less than half of the designated pedestrian space remains usable; in others, the entire footpath has been taken over.

Under its relaunched "Pedestrian First" campaign, the BMC has identified 320 km of footpaths to be cleared of encroachments, including unauthorised hawkers and structures, parked vehicles and other obstructions. The civic body...