VASCO
It was supposed to be temporary. It was supposed to be maintenance. But somewhere along the way, a vital pedestrian lifeline simply disappeared.
Back in June 2025, the Mormugao Port Authority (MPA) shut the footbridge connecting Desterro and Vasco, welding its entry and exit points and putting up a notice citing maintenance.
Residents were led to believe that the closure was temporary and that the bridge would reopen once the work was completed. It never did.
Instead, the bridge was eventually cut and removed, turning what residents understood to be a temporary inconvenience into a permanent loss.
Never just a shortcut
For years, the footbridge was an important pedestrian link between the Baina side and Vasco. Hundreds used it regularly — workers, elderly residents, students and ordinary pedestrians, besides devotees heading towards the Vailankanni Chapel and Damodar Temple during Saptah.
For many, it meant avoiding a long road journey and, more importantly, avoiding the railway tracks.
With the bridge gone, residents now have only two choices: take the longer road route or risk their lives crossing the railway tracks.
The problem becomes particularly acute during the Damodar Saptah, when large numbers of people move between Baina and Vasco.
Second Saptah, same struggle
The closure came just before the 126th Damodar Saptah in 2025. Now, residents are facing their second consecutive Saptah without the bridge.
What was once a few minutes’ walk has become a longer, more difficult journey.
For people who depend on walking because they cannot afford regular bus fares or private transport, the loss is even more significant. The bridge was not merely a convenient crossing — for a section of the population, it was their everyday pedestrian lifeline.
And with the safer crossing removed, some continue to take the dangerous railway-track route despite the obvious risks. The biggest resentment among residents is not merely over the closure, but over how it unfolded.
The MPA initially presented the closure as maintenance work. A banner dated June 5, 2025, was put up, while the bridge remained shut when the issue came to public attention on June 27.
Residents expected repairs and reopening.
Instead, the structure gradually became a memory.
The question now being asked is simple: If the closure was temporary maintenance, why was the bridge eventually cut away altogether?
Past objections, present reality
When the bridge was closed on June 27, 2025, Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar had termed the move “blatant dadagiri” and questioned why the MPA had not consulted local authorities.
MMC Chairperson Girish Borker had also objected, saying the civic body had not been informed and stressing that people should not be inconvenienced during Saptah.
Those objections, however, did not bring the bridge back.
Lifeline that vanished
Today, there is no bridge to reopen. What began with a maintenance notice has ended with the physical disappearance of a pedestrian link that had served Vasco residents for years.
For those who once crossed it daily, the change is stark: a bridge that took them across in minutes has been replaced by a longer road, a dangerous railway crossing — and a question that has remained unanswered since 2025: what happened to the promised temporary maintenance?
