THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The growing safety concerns surrounding the new glass bridge at Akkulam Tourist Village -- the new addition to the adventure tourism infrastructure in the state -- have prompted the tourism department to carry out further examination of the glass bridge to rule out safety concerns. The decision to conduct further safety examination comes in the wake of a controversial incident involving a mysterious crack that surfaced on one of the glass panels used in the construction of the bridge - which is touted as the longest in Kerala.
Following the mysterious crack, VYBECOS (Vattiyoorkavu Youth Brigade Entrepreneur Cooperative Society) -- the agency implementing the project -- filed a complaint with the Sreekaryam Police alleging suspected vandalism as the cause of the damage. The other day, the broken glass panel was replaced with another and the police have kept the broken glass panel as evidence for further investigation. According to the police, the glass panel weighs around 1 tonne and transporting it for further scrutiny to some other state is a herculean task.
“We are in talks with the tourism authorities and we are planning to bring the experts here to check the quality of the glass,” said an investigating officer.
MLA V K Prasanth, who is the director of VYBECOS, said that the glass bridge is intact and we still suspect vandalism and the damage was inflicted on purpose.
“The matter is being investigated by the police and we have decided to conduct one more safety check to alleviate the apprehensions on the safety of the glass panels used in the bridge,” Prasanth told TNIE. He said that the bridge would be opened to the public soon after the elections are over. Alleging foul play and vandalism, Prasanth blamed the staff and security at the Akkulam Tourist Village.
“We have decided to enhance security at the village and more CCTV cameras will be installed once the bridge becomes operational. We have taken it up with the government and more security staff will be deployed,” said Prasanth.
He added that there are not many glass quality-checking experts available. We will have to depend on the private parties. The examination will be done in the coming days and we will open the glass bridge without much delay.
The police said that this is the first time in recent times they are getting such a complaint.
“It’s a high-security zone and the investigation is underway,” said the officials at Sreekaryam Police Station.
