Most of the footbridges in the capital are now under the occupation of hawkers, sex workers, vendors and beggars, making it impossible for pedestrians to use the facilities.
The Dhaka South City Corporation and the Dhaka North City Corporation lack maintenance and monitoring to make these structures free from illegal occupation and trade.At present, the DSCC has 33 foot bridges while the DNCC has 54 but pedestrians alleged that there was none to take care of these foot bridges.
As a result, hawkers and floating people, with the help of local goons and a section of police officials, have become owners of these bridges.
Human excreta and urine, food wastes, wet clothes of floating people, hawkers’ stalls — all these have created a nasty environment at Moghbazar foot bridge.
As at other foot bridges, all illegal activities go on at this footbridge, particularly at night.
In the morning, floating people take breakfast, gossip, smoke on the bridge, complained Rubina Rahman, a resident of Nayatola.
She said she cannot cross the road for which every day she has to use this dirty footbridge and see this nuisance.
‘They block the whole stretch and if we tell them to make way, they start harassing them,’ she said.
During a visit, Shahbagh footbridge was seen full of hawkers impeding pedestrians’ movement.
On the staircase, hawkers piled their products and at least thirty hawkers were seen selling cosmetics, jewellery and household items on the footbridge.
Many pedestrians, especially students and children, are reluctant to use the footbridges because of their dirty condition, causing traffic jam in busy roads.
Mishu Haque, student of Uttara College, was seen to cross the busy road in front of Rajlaxmi Market.
She told New Age that footbridges were not user-friendly at all.
A hawker, Sobuj on New Market footbridge, told New Age that most of the vendors who run their businesses on the bridges pay toll to line men of the police and extortionists regularly.
Sometimes the hawkers occupy almost whole walkway of Farmgate footbridge while beggars occupy the stairs and sex workers wait for customers at the base of the bridge in the evening.
Pedestrians do not use footbridges at night as billboards and banners make the whole place dark and muggers, bag-snatchers, pickpockets dominate those places.
Dhaka South City Corporation estate officer Shamsul Alam said their responsibility ends as soon as a bridge is constructed and opened to public.
He said it was the duty of the adjacent police station to keep the footbridges free from hawkers, beggars and floating people.
Shamsul Alam said the DSCC did not conduct any drive this year to remove illegal occupants from the footbridges though they conduct raids on the bridges every year.
Dhaka North City Corporation chief estate officer Md Fosiullah claimed that there was no hawker or floating people on the DNCC footbridges.
-With New Age input
