NH-65 becomes highly accident-prone

Abdullahpurmet: National Highway No-65 has been prone to accidents and many valuable lives were lost, causing their kin irreparable loss. Instantaneous death occurred to an engineering student Vineeth from Sircilla district on Saturday when the two-wheeler he was driving was hit by a car at Pedda Amberpet ring road on Saturday. Chandrashekarachari of Vasanthapally village in Chityal mandal at Nalgonda district succumbed to injuries when his vehicle was hit by another vehicle at ORR on November 29. Mutton shop owner Abdul Hameed of Batasingaram village met with instantaneous death when the vehicle he was travelling was hit by container with heavy load at Kothagudem on December 5. Two-wheeler riders were severely injured when heavy vehicles hit them at Abdullapurmet Junction on December 2.

Pained by the loss of lives, people are demanding concerted action by all the departments concerned to prevent mishaps. According to reports, high speed is the main reason for most of the accidents. Though the traffic police are organising awareness programmes on road safety, there is no visible impact on the behaviour of motorists and the number of accidents keeps rising. Setting up U-turns at accident-prone junctions are having some limited impact. Social activists and local people demand a detailed study of the dangerous junctions on the NH65, especially the stretch passing through Abdullahpurmet mandal. They point out that increasing the height of divider on the highway will avert accidents to considerable extent. They also stress the necessity of traffic signal system at busy junctions such as those in Abdullahpurmet.

The other suggestions they make include: Establishment of foot over bridge, as thousands of people were crossing the highway daily; arrangement of sign boards indicating the junctions and accident prone areas on the highway; Action against rash drivers, by carrying out regular check-ups on the highway; Speed breakers wherever necessary; Central lighting system at Kothagudem to avert accidents. When contacted, Abdullapurmet Inspector Muni said that they already submitted reports to the departments concerned on the need to increase the height of divider. He appealed to the people to follow traffic rules and keep their vehicles in good condition to avert accidents.

BY Bathini Shettaiah Goud