Kolhapur: The local civic body on Wednesday initiated a clean footpath drive to remove illegal vendors on footpaths from major roads in the city.The total length of footpaths in the city is around 95km, of which is not even 10% are used by pedestrians owing to the encroachments, debris and shrubs grown alongside. The corporators in the general body meeting raised this issue stating that the citizens have to walk on the roads and have to face the danger of accidents.The staff of four departments-health, ward offices, anti-encroachment department and garden department of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) were deployed to created walking space on the footpaths. The staff removed over 200 such encroachments including cabin shops and hoardings on the footpaths. Around 400 KMC employees have have been deployed for the clean footpath drive.Municipal commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhari said, "All the machinery of the civic body was deployed for the initiative. The drive will continue for next few days and we will ensure that they are made usable for the pedestrians freely."On Tuesday, the footpaths in the areas such as Hockey Stadium, Crusher Chowk, New Vashi Naka, Rajarampuri, Temblaiwadi, Dhairyaprasad Chowk, Kawala Naka and Mahavir College were cleaned.The civic body is going to begin the drive to clean the drains present below the footpaths as the corporators had claimed that the drains are not cleaned since last few years. The choking has led to flooding in many areas during recent rains.Jayant Patil, a senior corporator of KMC said, "The pedestrians use the footpath for early morning walk and during the day for commuting purpose. The tourists find it inconvenient and dangerous while walking on the road. The safety of the pedestrians is guaranteed by the footpaths. The footpaths are constructed on all major roads by spending crores of rupees."On Thursday, the KMC is going to clean the footpaths along the roads from Isolation hospital, NCC office, Shahu Naka, SP office, Gokul hotel and Udyamnagar areas.The KMC has appealed those who have illegally placed their cabins along the footpaths to remove on their own or else their material from the shops will confiscated.

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