BENGALURU: A
foot bridge over a
storm water drain connecting
Isro Colony slum with
Cambridge Layout,
east Bengaluru, collapsed on Tuesday, marooning about 4,000 people residing in about 450 tenements and shacks. The metal bridge — 3.5ft in width and 52ft in length and the only way out of the slum — collapsed under the weight of an election campaign party that had visited to seek votes.
A two-year-old, identified as Shalini S, was among those injured in the incident that took place around 9am. While women and children were particularly hit, students attending special classes were forced to stay home. While residents improvised and made the bridge serviceable — for the brave, at least — by putting down boards and old doors over the middle, crossing over is still a worry. A pipeline supplying water from a borewell at one end of the bridge also collapsed.
