In any stretch, no matter how safe and well-lit, FOBs are avoided by most pedestrians after 10.30 p.m. On Old Mahabalipuram Road too, pedestrians, especially women, avoid using FOBs after a point in the evening. Only that, here, the cut-off point arrives earlier, at 8.30 p.m., and on some FOBs, earlier still.
For, by 7 p.m. every day, most FOBs are enveloped in a cloak of darkness. For, most — if not all — of the lamps installed on these FOBs to light the path of pedestrians are non-functional. Making matters worse, the walkways on these FOBs are covered on either side by hoardings. There are lamps that throw light on these hoardings, but they don’t illuminate the inner parts of the FOBs.
“It’s scary to use the FOB late in the evening,” says S. Aishwarya who works at a beauty parlour in Perungudi. She uses the FOB at Perungudi to cross the road and gets an MTC bus to reach her house in Kannagi Nagar.
“I generally leave my workplace around 8.30 p.m. There is no light inside the FOB; it’s covered with hoardings, from end to end and from top to bottom, and men can often be seen sleeping or sitting there,” says Aishwarya, who sometimes waits for other pedestrians to join her while having to cross the bridge.
Most of the facilities with hoardings have lights focussed on the advertisements. Though there is provision for lamps inside every FOB, most of them don’t function.
FOBs at Kandanchavadi, Madhya Kailash and Seevaram are a few examples of facilities that are covered with giant hoardings, enabling anti-social elements to take shelter there.
At the Kandanchavadi FOB, empty liquor bottles and leftover food packets are strewn all over the place.
“Many people would rather jump over the median than use the bridge,” says Sri Ranjini who works at a company in SP Infocity. She uses the facility sparingly.
At the FOB in Mettukuppam, a Tasmac outlet is located nearby, close to the bus stop, adding to the fear of pedestrains, especially women, using the bridge at night. Here too, huge advertisements have been installed at the facility.
Considering the facility is proximate to ASV Sun Tech Park and many IT professionals taking public transport use the FOB to get to the other side of the road, measures should be taken to have it adequately illuminated.
Regular commuters say it is scarier at places where there is some distance between the bus stop and the FOB. “At Madhya Kailash, for instance, even if you were to scream for help not many would hear you. There are no shops and the bus stop is over 100 metres away,” says R. Sudha, who works with VHS Hospital.
Many commuters have complained to Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC), which maintains these FOBs, and the police about poor lighting at these FOBs.
“We do patrol these FOBs. We even drive away hangers-on at the facility, but such drives have to be continuous to be effective,” says Vikram, a beat police officer covering Perungudi area.
TNRDC sources say lamps at these FOBs are often broken by vandals.
