BMC Pedestrian Policy Stalled Despite Supreme Court Ruling On Footpath Rights
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) decade-old Pedestrian-First Policy remains stalled across Mumbai, including in areas like Vile Parle East, despite a landmark Supreme Court ruling on June 19, 2026, which declared the freedom to walk on safe footpaths a fundamental right. The apex court's ruling established that pedestrian movement on demarcated and well-maintained footpaths must take priority over the movement of motorized vehicles.
The civic administration originally introduced the Pedestrian-First Policy a decade ago, around 2016, with optimistic promises of making Mumbai’s footpaths safe and friendly for pedestrians. The policy was designed to establish guidelines that would guarantee safe, continuous, uninterrupted, and dedicated passages for the mobility of pedestrians.
However, ten years after the guidelines were first mooted, they remain entirely unimplemented. The lack of progress is visible across the city's 685 traffic junctions, where pedestrians continue to navigate streets without the promised protections. In Vile Parle East, for instance, a local novelty shop continues to defy the policy's stated goals, standing as a clear example of the unenforced guidelines on the ground.
The Supreme Court's June 19 ruling was a major judicial milestone for urban mobility, explicitly declaring that the freedom to walk on demarcated and well-maintained footpaths is a fundamental right. The court ruled that this right has priority over motorized vehicle movement.
Despite this clear judicial recognition of footpath rights as a fundamental priority, the BMC has yet to implement the policy. Pedestrians in Mumbai still lack safe, continuous, and uninterrupted walking passages. The gap between the legal recognition of pedestrian rights and the reality on Mumbai's streets highlights the ongoing stagnation of the civic body's decade-old guidelines, leaving residents without the safe walking spaces they were promised ten years ago.
