Video Shows People Littering, Stopping Cars To Take Selfies On Mumbai Trans Harbour Link

Adding a 21.8-km feather to the country's infrastructure cap, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link between Sewri in Mumbai and Nhava Sheva in Raigad district on Friday. However, just hours after the bridge was thrown open to the public on Saturday, many people were seen flouting rules and regulations. Several photos and videos have surfaced on social media showing people stopping their vehicles, and taking pictures and selfies on a stretch that has a speed limit of 100 kmph. 

Not only that, the newly inaugurated bridge has become a picnic spot as commuters turned up in droves to experience driving on the bridge. People have also started littering on the bridge as a photo showed garbage lying on the side of the bridge. Other posts going viral on social media showed multiple parked vehicles as commuters clicked photographs.

A Twitter page called Mumbai Matters shared a picture and wrote, ''When it's Said No Stopping On #MTHL, This has to Happen.Then Zoom and See the circled area..''

Check out the pictures and videos:

Another tweet read, ''More visuals of Idiocracy & Madness at #MTHL... Seems like the latest Picnic Spot.... Have a looked at the parked car & also the @MTPHereToHelp @Navimumpolice Police Van watching the Selfie takers & doing nothing.''

A third picture showed dirty spots caused by spitting by commuters.

On Saturday, nearly 9,000 vehicles took the sea link in 12 hours, according to numbers released by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

The irresponsible behaviour of commuters and disregard for cleanliness and order has left the internet appalled. Many internet users urged authorities to take action against them and levy a hefty fine for breaking the rules. One user said, ''Sad. Need to respect all our public infrastructure. Considering the whole stretch is covered by CCTV, the culprits need to be exposed.''

Another commented, ''The government can only build new infrastructure Maintenance is the duty of the citizens Which unfortunately is not in the genes of Indians.''

A third said, ''Should penalise all these people who are stopping halting cars on MTHL.'' A fourth added, ''I think we as a society don't deserve these amenities. Everyone shows how good the infrastructure is overseas but when we try to build one we just don't respect it. Shame on us as a society.''

Notably, the trans harbour link is India's longest sea bridge and will reduce the time taken for the journey between the two points from the current hour and a half to around 20 minutes. Constructed at a cost of ₹ 17,840 crore, the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) has six lanes, and 16.5 km of the bridge's length is over the sea.

Two-wheelers, auto rickshaws, tractors, animal-drawn vehicles and slow-moving vehicles will not be allowed on the bridge.