Footbridge or death trap?

A photograph published in this newspaper's front page yesterday, of a hole on the surface of a footbridge, explains why the public would rather risk violating traffic rules than use footbridges. The fact that a busy footbridge remains in a state of disrepair for so long is indicative of the authorities' blatant disregard for public safety. 

The footbridge captured in the photo connects the Kamalapur Railway Station with Mugdapara and is supposedly used by a large number of pedestrians. Therefore, the risk of a severe accident is very high, especially at night or when a large number of people use the footbridge. Also, many footbridges in the city are nearly unusable, dirty and occupied by hawkers and beggars. How can we, then, hope to enforce the traffic laws and prevent people from jaywalking risking their lives? It seems there is no one to inspect the state of services that the city corporations provide the public.   

Oftentimes the city corporations, which are responsible for maintaining most of the footbridges across the city, tend to complain about not being empowered enough when they are confronted for their failure to tackle many of the city's woes. Apparently, they are hardly performing their existing duties, let alone new ones that they want to be entrusted with. If the authorities concerned truly want to address the problem of jaywalking and prevent the loss of lives on streets, they should make all footbridges, underpasses and sidewalks safe for use.