For a few weeks now, this paper has put the spotlight squarely on skywalks across the city
For a few weeks now, this paper has put the spotlight squarely on skywalks across the city. Reports have shown how skywalks have become the refuge of addicts and anti-social elements. Patches of darkness where lights have failed to function have made skywalks fertile ground for crimes like robberies. Many women have stated that they feel unsafe negotiating these stretch of darkness. A recent report in this paper about the Dahisar skywalk, though, makes for alarming reading. This skywalk is literally falling apart; it is rickety with chunks missing or collapsing, and a portion of it has remained closed for months, with no sign of repairs in sight.
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Despite its crumbling condition, people have been using it, only because the station itself barely has any infrastructure. The skywalk developed cracks in 2012, just a year after it was finished, and earlier this year, a major chunk of its floor gave away, injuring a senior citizen and leading to one of its portions in the west being closed for public. When the cracks had first appeared in 2012, they were so big that people’s feet would get caught in them.
In many locations, the skywalk was falling apart with damaged tiles, loose railings and missing steps. This skywalk needs our immediate attention. There is a common tendency to wait till a disaster occurs and then react to it. We do not know what the authorities here are waiting for. Start repairs at the earliest. It is unacceptable that people need to negotiate broken stairs and lean on loose railings. There should be no passing the buck. Excuses are a dime a dozen, do not trot them out now. You are playing with people’s lives. Show alacrity, responsibility, do not dilly-dally on decisions. Procrastination will not just be wasteful, but criminal, in this case.
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