United Colours of Garbage Bags’ Don a New Look to Nethravati Bridge Fencing Put Up to Stop Suicides
Mangaluru: If you walk into a mega mall, you will notice the Italian global fashion “United Colour of Benetton” branded shop, and when you travel on the Nethravati Bridge, you will definitely not miss to see the ‘United Colours of Garbage Bags” stuck/hanging from the barbed wire fences, thereby making a joke of the unwanted fencing put up to stop those committing suicide from jumping off the bridge into the river. Prior to the fencing idea, there were plans to install CCTV , to get the footage of who is jumping off the bridge. Seems Like A Dumb Solution. (Ref : Installing CCTV Plans Out- Fencing In Netravathi Bridge Gets Fencing To Stop Suicides-A Dumb )
OMG- isn’t it strange that our elected leaders come up with dumb ideas to rectify a issue/solution- and use public or govt money on such silly projects. There are people dying, there are people suffering due to Corona-virus- instead of providing better facilities, beds, medicine etc for such persons, our Netas are worried about people who are willing to die. Fencing a bridge is not a right solution to stop suicides, but proper awareness programmes, counseling, motivation, prayers etc can only stop someone from taking the extreme step. This project is nothing but to fill the pockets of our elected leaders, engineers, contractors and middlemen. (Ref :Website Impact! Spiked Wire Guard Added to the Original Fencing at Netravati Bridge .)
Now that the fencing is almost done, do you think by fencing Nethravati Bridge will do any good for a person who has decided top commit suicide, which is no doubt, a CRIME. Are our Netas or district authorities hooked on stupidity or what, to come up with such a dumb solution to stop future suicides. With so many suicides taking place recently, where people end their distressed life by hanging to a ceiling fan- so what would be our Netas solution for this? Stop selling ceiling fans or come up with a rule that all new houses or flats should stop using ceiling fans, instead use Air Conditioners only? There are people dying, there are people suffering due to Coronavirus- instead of providing better facilities, beds, medicine etc for such persons, our Netas are worried about people who are willing to die. Fencing a bridge is not a right solution to stop suicides, instead proper awareness programmes, counseling, motivation, prayers etc can only stop someone from taking the extreme step.
Frankly speaking, fencing Nethravati Bridge is a waste of public taxpayers money and also a height of stupidity. Anyways, some one will make some money out of this major development project during this very difficult time- right from the ministers, MLA’s, corrupt officials, engineers and contractors. Apart from that, this fencing of bridge project is nothing but a useless solution to curb a few suicides that take place every year. There might be around ten suicides taking place at Nethravati bridge but there are ten people dying everyday due to Covid-19? So is it worth spending lakhs or few crores showing concern towards few people who commit suicide from this popular Nethravati bridge, also nicknamed as “Suicide Spot”?
The way this project has been planned is totally not well-planned and very unscientific. The height and the broad gaps in the fence, is enough for anyone to climb and jump off the bridge and end lives. So what kind of madness is this in order to stop suicides? A person who is hell bent on committing suicide will do it somehow somewhere, it doesn’t have to only Netravathi Bridge. Just because now that a fence will prevent someone from jumping off the bridge, will the person who has already decided to end his life, will change his mind? No way? He or she will find some other bridge or a different way to commit suicide.
Its a fact that ever since the suicide of Cafe Coffee Day owner Siddharth in 2019, many have followed in his footsteps and have ended their lives by jumping off from Netravathi Bridge, which is called as a “Suicide Spot”- but it doesn’t mean that the Netas and other authorities use tax payers hard earned money to solve this situation. Totally wrong and totally a dumb solution. Sources reveal that the decision to fence the bridge was taken after many had pressurized the MLA Vedavyas Kamath and the city administration to put up fences on all four sides of the bridge, thereby stopping people from jumping into the river and killing themselves. People should raise their voices and stop this project immediately, which is nothing but wasting taxpayers’ hard earned money, and added to that, the plan and design of the fencing is totally unscientific and not safe in stopping suicides-Period?
However, now the fencing with barbed wires on top portion, is stopping garbage bags reaching into the river water, when people toss them out of their vehicles. Earlier when there was no fencing all these garbage bags used to make it easy into the river, when people used to toss them. Now it seems like this protective fencing of Netravati bridge has become garbage bag hangers, and there are a bunch of garbage bags, small to big sizes, even face masks and inner wears are seen hanging to the barbed fence. What a joke? Prior to this fencing done recently, people used to throw their garbage into the river right from the bridge or toss them into the water from their vehicles. That was a routine thing for the people passing by on this bridge. People are so ignorant, that they even dump garbage on the side of the road, closer to the Nethravati bridge. (See pics)
Garbage dumped on the side of the highway near to the Nethravati Bridge by Ignorant people
As of now due to the fencing having barbed wires, many of these garbage bags get entangled in the spiked wire and stay hanging there, giving a colourful look to the fencing. Also there are rumours that they are planning to install CCTV’s to capture those committing suicide and also those who throw garbage into the river, polluting the environment. It should also be noted that present modern issues need modern and suitable solutions, and not like the one, which is highlighted here. Everyone has problems in life, but taking an extreme step and ending life is an act of nothing but cowardliness, and also a crime. Such distress people need to overcome their problems by efforts, patience, courage, take counseling, advices, etc- and not end their life through suicide. There is always hope and cure for problems, but if people go out of their way, become stubborn, and decide to end life- then it’s their fault, and why others should take pity on them. I may sound rude, but when someone is spending our hard earned money on foolish projects it hurts and rude words automatically come out of your mouth. Sorry, can’t help!
It should be noted that, any person who decides to end his or her life, no one can stop them. Committing suicide by jumping off the bridge into the river is just one among many other ways- suicide is committed by consuming poison, hanging, slitting throat, jumping off a building, lying on a railway track in the path of a moving train etc etc. So why all this pity shown by the authorities only to the ones who commit suicide by jumping of Nethravati Bridge? How about the same authorities come up with solutions which can stop suicides from many other ways. Fencing will not stop someone from committing suicide- once again, I say this fencing project is a sheer waste of money, just like the taxpayers money spent on the Clock Tower in the City, where the clock has already stopped five times since it was installed.
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