Aluva: It’s been a month since the Marthanda Varma Bridge, a landmark in Aluva, goes dark during the night. The street lights that were removed ahead of the maintenance works of the bridge are still not reinstated. The PWD department of the municipality is responsible for installing and lighting the street lights on the bridge.

A few days ago, a migrant labourer who hid behind one of the pillars of the bridge had tried to molest a woman who got down at the Aluva metro station and was walking through the bridge towards Thottakattukara, at night. Besides, two persons tried to jump off the bridge to commit suicide. One of them was saved by the local residents who are diving experts.

These are incidents that could have been averted if the bridge was well lit. Lots of people from Thottakattukara that includes 10 wards of the municipality use the walkway on the bridge to reach the town.

The number of pedestrians has increased since metro trains have extended their timings. Autorickshaw cannot be hired from the metro station to Thottakattukara area as the drivers are reluctant due to the severe traffic congestion on the bridge. So, pedestrians mostly rely on the walkway on the bridge to reach the other side of the town.

Meanwhile, former chairman of the PWD committee Jerome Michael said that the municipality should have arranged temporary lighting on the bridge for the pedestrians when the street lights were removed for maintenance. Councillor Rajani Srikant had pointed out the difficulties faced by the pedestrians due to lack of proper lighting on the bridge to the authorities in the beginning itself.

However, the authorities failed to make even temporary arrangements. Meanwhile, it is said that the lack of proper lighting on the bridge has proved to be a boon for the sand smugglers in the area.