Even though some climb up the dark stairs of the overhead bridge, the huge hoarding boards block any fickle light over the areas. In the pitch black darkness, one can only walk as fast as he can or just drop the entire idea of taking the bridge if some suspicious figures are seen moving in the dark.[break]
The risk of pick-pocketing and robbery in the dark lanes running over the roads force the pedestrians to take a second thought before climbing the dark flight of steps. Turning into a safe shelter for criminal activities during the dark hours, these overhead bridges threaten the security of the people even when the city is still alive.
“We get to hear about many cases of people getting robbed above the bridge,” says Bishnu Gautam who owns a shop below the overhead bridge at the New Road Gate. He adds that he too is fearful while taking the overhead bridge in the evening, even as early as six o’clock. “When we have to take home whatever we’ve earned, I rather avoid the bridge above.”
Smriti Lo, a student and a regular walker from Bag Bazaar to Ratna Park also shares her experience. “As I climbed the stairs of the overhead bridge at Ratna Park, I could see three or four people standing at the other end of the bridge. I felt that they were looking at me and whispering. There was hardly any light on the bridge, so I decided to turn around, climbed down the same stairs and took the road instead.”
DIG Binod Singh, spokesperson of Nepal Police, agrees that the overhead bridges are inappropriate from the security point of view. “The big hoarding boards on both sides block the views of the bridge.” He also points out that most of the overhead bridges are there just for the sake of infrastructure. “Some of the bridges are not architecturally sound, and instead of facilitating pedestrians, they bring more trouble.”
In the absence of light or CCTV cameras, pick-pockets, robbers, drug abusers and people involved in other illegal activities take refuge in the overhead bridges.
Ram Prasad Thapa, Division Chief of the Department of Physical Development and Construction, Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), says they have realized the threat to the general people walking on the bridges and they have discussed the matter in meetings.
“We can’t just put up light bulbs in those places. We have to work in coordination with the Nepal Electricity Authority for street lights,” he says. He also mentioned that KMC has given the overhead bridges on lease to a private company, Innovative Concept Nepal Private Limited, and they are the ones responsible for the maintenance of the overhead bridges. But installing lights is KMC’s responsibility.
While Thapa agreed that there have not been any improvements in those overhead bridges in terms of maintenance and upgrading public facilities, he said that putting up street lights on the overhead bridges will have to wait.
CCTV cameras are, too, far from materializing. “We’ve wanted to install CCTV cameras at all busy traffic crossings, but budget is the main issue here. And to top it, load shedding prevents from regulating even the already installed cameras,” says DIGP Ganesh Raj Rai, Chief of Metropolitan Traffic Police Department.
He added that the Traffic Police has already taken initiatives to ensure security on the bridges. “We pulled down the large hoarding board on the bridge at Ratna Park crossing as it was bigger than the railing’s height.”
Thapa said that the Traffic Police had pulled down the hoarding in coordination with KMC. Though he said that they have decided that the new overhead bridges under construction will have hoarding boards with maximum width of three feet only, he argued that existing hoarding boards will not be completely pulled out. “But we’ll make sure that people walking on the bridges will be clearly seen from the streets below.”
In light of the safety of pedestrians, DIGP Rai assured The Week that he is immediately going to inform the civil police about the rising insecurities on the overhead bridges. He also said that the Traffic Police, too, will regulate regular patrolling in those areas.
DIG Singh also emphasized that the bridges should have transparent railings for the safety of pedestrians. He added that police personnel cannot remain static on all the overhead bridges but there have been regular patrolling during night.
On the other hand, the shopkeepers who have rented the shutters below the overhead bridge near Bir Hospital have employed two security guards for the bridge. They pool money among themselves to pay for the private guards.
“Eight years ago, a shutter had been vandalized and thieves had stolen everything in the shop. Since then, we’ve employed security guards on our own expenses,” says Govinda Bhujel who owns a surgical equipment shop below the bridge. “We’ve taken initiatives for the security ourselves rather than fearing for our money and goods.”
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