TOI
Pics: Rons Bantwal

Mumbai, Jun 26: A brisk gait and furtive glances at their watches made a group of office-goers seem like they were participating in a marathon as they walked across the city's first skywalk, which was inaugurated by the chief minister on Tuesday morning. They were in fact clocking the time it took to walk from the Bandra-Kurla Complex end of the 1.3-km-long skywalk to Bandra railway station.

Office-goers and students darted across the skywalk, barely sparing a moment for the breathtaking view or the fresh garlands strung across the yellow bars, in an indication of why Mumbai is known as the city that's "always on the run".

If convenience was what some like Shikha Parmeshwaran and her colleague were exploring along the route, others were drawn there out of sheer curiosity. Children from the sprawling slums nearby stood around in groups excitedly pointing out their houses from above.

"It's great, as one doesn't have to walk through the muck and traffic. But as of now, the stretch seems too long. It will benefit us if officials build a staircase closer to our office," said Parmeshwaran, who works in an oil company nearby.

The levelled stretch of the walkway is in stark contrast to the potholed, traffic-clogged roads below and teeming with hutments on both the sides. Many however, pointed to the need for a security patrol on the skywalk to prevent encroachments.

A group of college students was also among those those who tried out the skywalk on Tuesday. "We're just trying it out," said Manali Sakpal, a student of Hire architectural college. But school students like Danish Sheikh and Naushad Khan said they had made up their mind to use the structure regularly.

"I am basically a walker and concepts like are always welcome," said businessmen K Kumar who visits clients at BKC twice a week.