Pedestrian Bridge of Karachi University

By Hurma Khan

It’s worrisome that pedestrian over head bridges in front of colleges and universities are mostly constructed after some accidents have occurred and precious lives have been lost. Similarly a pedestrian bridge was build in front of “silver jubilee”, main gate of university of Karachi, when a speedy dumper crushed a KU-student Anum Zehra (student of BS HONS economics, evening) to death. After her demise, this overpass was built. The parents of the deceased inaugurated it and it is named after Late Zehra.
The need for this overhead pedestrian bridge was immense as hundreds of students had to cross the speedy road parallel to the main gate of the university daily. But it is sad to see that despite the presence of this bridge some students do not use it just for saving few minutes. In my opinion students should realize that it was made to keep them safe and they should use this bridge instead of risking their precious lives just for the sake of savings few minutes in order to get to their desired buses. Administration have also taken notice of it and now a green belt has been constructed on the division between the two adjacent roads and for now the pupils have to use the bridge which is good.
For me, walking over this bridge has always been a pleasant experience due to the stunning sight of botanical garden. The natural beauty of far and wide spreading green grass, the plateau and a long straight street from silver jubilee to check post, is very eye catching. Sometimes the street seems as if it is a walking track of a park. The garden looks even more spectacular after the monsoon season because the greenery splurges everywhere in the campus after the rain. This scene often tempts me to stop for few seconds, but all the joy vanishes in a flip when I see my only route bus passing down on the road which comes after 15 minutes and the wait looks like of an hour due to heat and humidity of Karachi.
Presence of the street beggars is a dilemma for this bridge. Many child beggars can be found on both ends of the bridge, some ask for money with downcast eyes while others irritate you by holding your bag and walking by your side. If anyone sympathizes by giving money to one of them then it means that they are calling for more trouble as other beggars also come and start asking the same question by emotional black mailing “ Allah tujhe imtehaan me kamyabi dey” and often disgusting lame prays like, “tujhe tere pyar ki qasam” urghh.
Well I pray and hope that no any other Anum Zehra becomes the victim of any such road accident. Furthermore, the mafia which is working behind these child beggars would stop abusing those naive children.