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Kathmandu, Bagmati Zone, Nepal
I am Basan Shrestha from Kathmandu, Nepal. I use the term 'BASAN' as 'Balancing Actions for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources'. I am a Design, Monitoring & Evaluation professional. I hold 1) MSc in Regional and Rural Development Planning, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, 2002; 2) MSc in Statistics, Tribhuvan University (TU), Kathmandu, Nepal, 1995; and 3) MA in Sociology, TU, 1997. I have more than 10 years of professional experience in socio-economic research, monitoring and documentation on agricultural and natural resource management. I had worked in Lumle Agricultural Research Centre, western Nepal from Nov. 1997 to Dec. 2000; CARE Nepal, mid-western Nepal from Mar. 2003 to June 2006 and WTLCP in far-western Nepal from June 2006 to Jan. 2011, Training Institute for Technical Instruction (TITI) from July to Sep 2011, UN Women Nepal from Sep to Dec 2011 and Mercy Corps Nepal from 24 Jan 2012 to 14 August 2016 and CAMRIS International in Nepal commencing 1 February 2017. I have published articles to my credit.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Pedestrian's safety

Metropolitan Police Office is extensively demolishing physical structures such as retaining walls, parts of houses and even the existing footpaths to expand the Valley roads. With increasing population, number of vehicles is also increasing. This urban development task of widening the roads has become necessary. However, it seems that adequate space has not been left for footpath construction overlooking the rights of the pedestrians. Breaking structures are necessary to expand the road, but it is not sufficient for safe movement considering the obstruction created by demolished materials littered on the roadside. 

For limited space of footpath or lack of it, pedestrians are bound to walk on the roads instead, which makes them prone to accidents. Minimum width of footpath for pedestrian needs to be fixed, the remaining space needs to be used for expanding motorable road. It is not necessary that the footpath needs to be very wide, as the width alone does not guarantee pedestrians’ safety. 

Using footpath by shops, vendors, and motorcyclist is entirely wrong. It is considered as no person’s land and even used for storing construction materials by local. Therefore, such footpath-obstructing practices should strictly be discouraged. 

— Basan Shrestha, Ghattekulo Marg
http://www.epaper.thehimalayantimes.com/PUBLICATIONS/THT/THT/2012/01/29/ArticleHtmls/PEOPLE-SPEAK-Address-pedestrians-safety-29012012008003.shtml?Mode=1

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