Cable-stayed bridge opens to stray cattle on Day 2

SURAT: The cable-stayed bridge, which witnessed sheer crowd madness minutes after inauguration on Tuesday, got unwanted visitors when a herd of stray cattle decided to take the short cut to Adajan.

Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) was caught napping as the flock merrily ventured on the bridge from Athwalines side, that too from the wrong side and caused another traffic jam on the way. Finally, the herd was shooed away by the traffic cops on Adajan side and they started their journey back towards Athwalines.

This is first time that stray cattle were spotted on the bridge and that too on the newly opened facility. The entire Athwalines area is free of cattle menace and one can only spot stray cattle on the road beyond Y-Junction and at New City Light area.

The social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp, were flooded with videos and pictures of the cattle crossing the cable-stayed bridge on Wednesday. People slammed the administration for their failure in curbing the cattle menace in the city.

Social activist Rajesh Modi, who was travelling towards Adajan, said, “I was shocked seeing the stray cattle on the bridge. Till now, we used to see them sitting or loitering on the roads in the city, but now they are on the bridge too.”

SMC’s anti-stray cattle squad, which is mostly caught napping, was not even seen on the spot to clear the animals. The city is battling stray cattle menace for years now . However, the civic authorities are only dragging their feet.

Surprisingly, SMC officials were smelling a conspiracy in releasing the cattle on the bridge. “This must be a handiwork of some people with vested interest who want to show the civic body in poor light. Otherwise, we have never heard of the stray cattle venturing on the bridge.”