Hyderabad, Sept. 21 -- To walk on a footpath in Hyderabad is like running an obstacle course. You step on a pavement with broken tiles, avoid garbage and public urination on one side, find a way around a parked motorcycle, step onto the road where the footpath ends while dodging a speeding vehicle and scrambling back on what remains of a kerb, only to find a shop encroaching and blocking the way.

Take for instance the footpath opposite Bikanerwala on Road No 1, Banjara Hills, where it is more an idea than actual infrastructure. Anyone walking here only has access to a footpath for a very short distance from the last Meenakshi Lucknow store, after which a pedestrian has to step onto the road with oncoming traffic - a spot that leaves peop...