Footbridge at Shewrapara marred by hazards

The footbridge over Rokeya Sarani road in Shewrapara of Dhaka has become an unsafe site, as a stretch of cables lays five to six inches over the ground on the walkway of the bridge, bordering the stairs, as well as overhead. The stretch of cables, belonging to cable operators, such as the internet, satellite TV channels, wifi and other local networking and data service providers, are creating problems for locals, pedestrians, school students and their guardians who have to step over the cables to cross the bridge every day. In many cases, the cables have also caused fatal accidents, mostly at night. This Dhaka Tribune correspondent visited the spot yesterday, and found the foot over-bridge points, on one side, to the link road between Rokeya Sarani and Monipur School and College Branch-3. Different kindergartens are also located on both sides of the footbridge, a busy route for a large number of school students and their guardians. Taslima Akhter, a guardian of a Monipur School student, said: “We have been facing problems in crossing the foot over-bridge for a long time because of these cables. Every day, all of the pedestrians, including the children, feel the same.” She claimed that this is a daily issue for pedestrians, but no one bothers about how to overcome it. Moshiur Rahman, a shop owner at an adjoining building of the over-bridge, said a few members of affiliated bodies of the Awami League and BNP have maintained the cable operating business, with locals being powerless to say anything to them. “If anybody attempts to request them to remove the cable bundles, they say the cables are not a problem or a barrier to walking,” he added. Moshiur also said the cable operators may pull out the cables and redraw them outside of the over-bridge, but no such step has been taken. When contacted, Kamal Ahmed Majumder, ruling Awami League lawmaker of the Dhaka 15 constituency and founder of Monipur School and College, did not answer the phone call. Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq told the Dhaka Tribune: “Our officials concerned will visit the foot over-bridge immediately, and necessary step will be taken to remove the cables from inside of the bridge.” A piece of the road dividing fence on Rokeya Sharani under the bridge was removed by unnamed persons. Many pedestrians have taken to using this route to cross the road instead, though it is equally dangerous. Locals say it is unfortunate that one has to take such a route when there is already a foot-over bridge. They add that crossing the road by such a route could lead to an accident at any time. Earlier in December 2010, the government instructed all government and private cable operators to remove all of the overhead cables in Dhaka. After a government reminder in November 2014, the Internet Service Providers’ Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) sought two more years from the government to remove overhead cables from the capital’s streets.