Selfie practice continues on Pamban bridge despite penalty fear

Thousands of tourists who flock to Rameswaram every day have to cross the Pamban bridge, which is the only link between the Rameswaram island and the mainland.

While crossing the bridge, tourists often halt midway and take photographs of the sea and the Pamban railway bridge. Recently, to prevent tourists from taking photographs in such a risky manner, the tourist vehicles were not allowed to park their vehicles on the bridge. Also, a fine of Rs 500 was announced for the vehicles that did not abide the direction.

However, the rule was not implemented seriously by the district administration and tourists can still be found on the bridge. Sometimes, they also make their children pose standing on the parapets of the bridge. The youngsters too stop their vehicles on the road bridge and get down to the railway bridge. They stand on the centre of the bridge and take selfies without considering the movement of the trains. Even local fishermen do not take the risks by walking on the bridge and they say that the tourists do not care about the warnings.

Speaking to DT Next, Patrick, a country boat fisherman from Pamban, said that a lot of youngsters were recently seen walking on the Pamban railway bridge to take selfies and that it involves huge risks. They are unaware of the train timings. When trains arrive, they rush to the small wooden plank on the side of the bridge, he said.

As many as five daily trains and many weekly trains cross the bridge every day. Even the local fishermen are unaware of the weekly train timings and therefore, even they avoid walking on the bridges. However, the youngsters, despite warnings, take selfies on the bridge. Policemen should be deployed on the bridge to prevent them from walking on the bridge, said Patrick.

Meanwhile, the Railway department recently passed an order stating that persons found taking selfies in Railway stations and on railway bridges would be fined Rs 2,000. The order would apply for tourists taking selfies on the Pamban bridge too.