CITY authorities are mandated to ensure safe pedestrian mobility. And, in Dhaka city, which is home to more than 10 million people, they should, therefore, ensure that footbridges are both comfortable and accessible. There are 31 footbridges in the area of the south city authorities and 62 in the area of the north city authorities. But most of the footbridges are rundown, with holes on the decks and broken steps on the stairs, as 抖阴精品 reported on November 20. And they mostly remain occupied by vendors, hawkers, homeless people and drug addicts. The access ways remain dirty. They are often also dark after the evening as the lighting arrangement for most of the footbridges does not work. They are mostly not disability-friendly. In some cases, the lift system of the footbridges, wherever they exist, does not work. All this makes it difficult for pedestrians, especially the elderly and people with disabilities, to use the footbridges and forces them to cross busy roads, often climbing over the railings of the road dividers, amidst risks of accidents, in which pedestrians are reported to have made up the majority of the traffic accident victims. All this also makes the use of the footbridges, especially after the evening, unsafe.
There are also issues of maintenance and repairs left undone. The footbridge by the Judicial Administration Training Institute on College Road has at least three holes on its deck. The footbridge by BIRDEM General Hospital at Shahbagh was repaired two years ago after it had become risky for use. But it soon fell into disrepair, now with a large hole on the bridge deck and broken steps on the stairs. The footbridge at Paribagh is closed to pedestrians as it is no longer fit for use. Tree branches have been placed blocking access to the stairs. It is reported that the footbridge had been used by people braving risks for many years before it was finally closed about two years ago. People now cross the busy road by climbing the railing of the road divider. Road users complain that many of the footbridges have been erected in inconvenient locations, stopping people from using them. City officials speak of repairs of the lifts or the footbridges, putting the delay down to the tender process which takes time. But if they had properly maintained the footbridges at regular intervals, they might not have needed to go for large-scale repairs. They all know that completing the tender process takes time.
In view of all this, whilst the city authorities should immediately repair the rundown footbridges, they should also carry out regular maintenance so that the bridges do not fall into disrepair early.
