Minister Krishna Byre Gowda (left) on Wednesday wrote a letter to the state transport minister urging him to hike the penalty for those riding vehicles on footpaths to Rs 5,000. (Photo credit: Facebook)Bengaluru Urban Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Wednesday wrote to Transport Minister Byrathi Suresh B S urging him to hike the penalty for those riding vehicles on footpaths to Rs 5,000.Presently, the penalty for riding on footpaths in Karnataka is Rs 500.The letter comes at a time when the Safe Footpath campaign, a drive to remove encroachments from footpaths across the city, is in progress as part of the Supreme Court’s directions to safeguard the public’s right to walk.Gowda, while chairing a meeting with officers of Bengaluru Traffic Police and Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), earlier in the day, said, “It has come to his attention that motorists are riding on the cleared footpaths without any fear of consequences, and that several people have already complained to him about the issue. If accidents involving pedestrians occur because vehicles are being ridden on footpaths, who will be held responsible?”He directed the traffic police to initiate stringent legal action against those indulging in such violations and stated that only a higher penalty would effectively deter such offences.Also read | Bengaluru civic body officials assaulted during anti-encroachment drive, 10 arrestedAccordingly, he told the meeting that he would write to the transport department requesting to hike the penalty to Rs 5,000.On parking issues, Gowda said that, in his opinion, vehicles should not be permitted to park on arterial and sub-arterial roads. While acknowledging that implementing such a rule may be difficult in practice, he urged the officers to at least ensure the enforcement of the regulations already in force.Story continues below this ad“To regulate traffic congestion on the city’s major roads, an alternate parking or one-side parking system is already in place. However, motorists are not following these rules. Vehicles continue to be parked on both sides of the road throughout the month, resulting in further traffic congestion. What is the difficulty in enforcing the existing regulations?” the minister asked.‘Enforce alternate parking system’He asserted that no fresh notification is required to enforce the current rules and urged the police to pay greater attention to the issue. “If the alternate parking system is implemented strictly, at least 7 to 8 feet of space would remain available on one side of the road every day. This would also benefit motorists and help reduce traffic congestion to a certain extent,” he said.The minister also noted that vehicles stopping near traffic signals contribute to traffic congestion. He directed the traffic police not to allow any vehicle, including the state-run Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses, to stop unnecessarily near traffic signals.He further instructed that no bus stops should be located within 75 metres of traffic signals or within 50 metres of junctions. “Wherever such bus stops currently exist, relocate them,” he told the officers.Story continues below this adThe meeting was attended by Karthik Reddy, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), and other senior officers of GBA.