Escalators in FOBs in India Remain Inoperable Due to Poor Maintenance

Foot overbridges (FOBs) in Gurugram, India, built to offer pedestrians a safe passage across the city’s congested roads, are suffering severe neglect, the Hindustan Times reports. The source recently performed spot-checks of the FOBs in Sector 30 and found that the escalators have been out of service indefinitely, the lights are nonfunctional and staircases are unkept, leading to the bridges remaining largely unused. This forces pedestrians to risk crossing busy roads instead of using the FOBs. At IFFCO Chowk, the pedestrian bridge’s escalator has been inoperable for months. Aditya Pandey, who works at Tesla Power, said, “Nobody uses it because it’s not maintained. It’s just a waste of infrastructure.” In 2024, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority announced plans to build four new FOBs at an estimated cost of ₹16 crore (US$1.8 million), yet construction has not begun.