The pedestrian satyagraha reported on April 9, continued on April 12 and was declared a great success. Associations like voice of dignity, dada dadi park, Borivli dahisar jagrut manch and other organsations participated. Senior citizens of the age group of 64 to 73 years participated in the pedestrian satyagraha where they demarcated a 6-foot pedestrian lane at the centre of SV Road with white paint and formed a human chain around it with the help of a long strip of white cloth several hundred metres long. The demarcated lane was painted by Santosh Jangam, the founder and strong supporter of sahasi padyatri. The human chain on SV Road went all the way from LT Road to Jambhli Gully, and doubled back on itself. Everyone held placards and gave away the brochures to make the surrounding passers-by aware of their right to walk smoothly and safely on the road.

 

“During our Satyagraha, a lot of passers-by voluntarily joined in the human chain, held up placards and distributed pamphlets. The pedestrian movement is rapidly growing, and that passers-by on foot and in vehicles, overwhelmingly agree that the pedestrian is the most neglected part of this city. Many people call and message us to voice their support, and to invite us to carry out satyagraha in their own area. We also get a lot of support from surrounding shopkeepers,” said Krishnaraj Rao, the leading founder of the movement. There were young students just passed out of 12th and media personalities who decided to participate in the Satyagrah and support the cause of pedestrians. Jimmy Dordi voiced the voice of dignity, “We raise our voice for the issues pertaining to senior citizens. The response was tremendous today. We distributed these pamphlets house to house as well. We also had a meeting with commissioner Wagralkar and explained our issues to him. He said that they are trying their level best to get this issue solved. But something somewhere is wrong which he couldn’t explain.”

 

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