By Priya Pathak

Copyright republicworld

After a Canadian vlogger’s viral video showed how tough it was to walk 1.5 km on the city’s broken and dirty footpaths, BBMP Central Commissioner Rajendra Cholan rushed into action. With private volunteers, he cleaned up the Majestic footpath and then made headlines by sitting there and eating snacks.Canadian Vlogger Caleb Friesen, who has been living in India for almost eight years now, shoots videos on his city life and the underlying problems in the city that are mostly ignored by the authorities. In his video, Caleb is seen walking with difficulty a mere distance of 1.5 kilometers from the Majestic bus stand to a nearby Starbucks outlet without stepping onto the road.In the video, he is seen jumping, ducking and using parkour to overcome obstacles like open drains, barbed wire, overgrown bushes and human faeces, prompting the authority to clean and restore the pedestrian space.The video has been captioned by him- “How do you walk from Majestic Bus Stand in Bengaluru to Starbucks at Lulu Mall, exclusively using footpaths? Unfortunately, it’s not currently possible, but I still gave it a shot! I look forward to a future where Indian city infrastructure is developed, well-maintained, and state-of-the-art!”The video garnered a lot of attention, with many people expressing anger over the poor management by the authorities.The Canadian national was even brought back to the same spot, where he shot another video praising the improved walkway.Friesen was taken back to the spot to record the revamped footpath, where he said: “This is incredible. It is amazing to see everybody sitting and eating in the same place where there was trash, urine and barbed wire. You couldn’t even walk on this place.”But the internet was not impressed. Many users slammed the BBMP, questioning why the civic body woke up only after a “white man’s complaint,” while lakhs of Bengaluru citizens have been raising the same issue for years.Critics said the move looked more like a PR stunt than a long-term solution. Others pointed out that footpaths in several other parts of the city remain in poor shape.Read More: Dhaula Kuan BMW Accident Case: Accused Woman Driver Gurpreet Arrested