New Delhi, March 17 Emotions ran high after the collapse of a widely used 60-foot bridge in north Delhi's Roop Nagar area, which killed a woman, with local residents confronting political leaders who arrived at the scene on Tuesday.
Among the visiting leaders were Model Town MLA Ashok Goel and former legislator from the constituency Akhilesh Pati Tripathi.
Locals from Gur Mandi, including Vikas Kumar, Ishwar Singh, and Kavita, surrounded the leaders and asked why no concrete measures were taken to completely restrict access to the bridge, despite it being declared unsafe.
They questioned why people were allowed to continue using the structure and why no timely action was taken even after several complaints highlighted the risk.
Kumar said he had personally lodged multiple complaints warning that the bridge could collapse at any time.
"I asked the political leaders why they were here now. One life has been lost, but it could have been a very serious incident. By God's grace, another woman who was about to step onto the bridge was saved. The government must conduct a proper survey of unsafe bridges and make such reports public to raise awareness so that no more lives are lost," he said.
Singh, a resident, said his daughters used the same bridge daily to go to school. "What do leaders have to lose? It's our people who die. They just make promises and leave," he said, adding that his two daughters crossed the bridge every day to go to school.
Pooja, a resident of Roop Nagar, said locals heavily relied on the bridge for daily needs. "We used to cross it regularly to go to Gur Mandi to purchase groceries."
According to officials, the incident occurred around 9:30 am when a PCR call alerted police and emergency services about the collapse of the bridge built over a drain. Police said the deceased woman, believed to be around 50 years old and suspected to be a beggar, was near one end of the bridge when it collapsed. Her body was later recovered from the drain.
Personnel from the Delhi Fire Service, National Disaster Response Force, and Delhi Police carried out a coordinated rescue operation, deploying multiple teams and fire tenders while cordoning off the area.
Authorities said the bridge, which connects Gur Mandi to Roop Nagar, had already been declared unsafe and barricaded. However, locals alleged that the warnings were routinely ignored as the structure remained a crucial shortcut for hundreds of students and residents, significantly reducing travel time.
Locals even said that police used to barricade the area every day, but locals never paid attention and kept moving the barricading to take the shortcut.
The Delhi government has constituted a three-member committee to investigate the foot overbridge collapse. The government has also asked the concerned department to submit a report within 48 hours.
In addition, the Irrigation and Flood Control Minister has also ordered a safety audit of all similar foot overbridges across the city to assess their safety. The steel truss foot overbridge near Mother Dairy in Roop Nagar, was constructed approximately 33 years ago and had significantly deteriorated over time, he said.
The bridge was inspected earlier in March 2025 and was found to be structurally unsafe. Acting on this assessment, authorities had closed the bridge for public use in July 2025 and put in place necessary restrictions.