Crush fear on zoo bridge

A 33m-long overbridge outside Alipore zoo has been carrying hundreds of people every day, easing traffic in the area but raising fears about its load-bearing capacity.

Over the past three days, there have been several moments when a few hundred men, women and children have boarded the overbridge together, leading to chaos and a stampede-like situation, sometimes forcing police to close entry to the footbridge for some time.

Bridge expert Biswajit Shome, who was part of the construction team of the footbridge, said the portion of the structure that remains suspended over the road is capable of bearing the weight of 700 people with an average weight of 70kg each. “But ideally the load on the bridge at any given time should not reach saturation point,” Shome said.