Highway of Deaths? NH 66 Stretch from Padau School till Nanthoor Circle Unsafe for 2-Wheelers
Highway of Deaths? NH 66 Stretch from Padau School till Nanthoor Circle Unsafe for 2-Wheelers, because of depressions/grooves due to sliding of bitumen, which has been posing safety hazards to motorists, especially two-wheeler riders, where many have been injured and couple of deaths recently, including Karthik Mallya, a degree student of Besant Evening College, who died a week ago in a accident on this stretch of NH. Now, after a complaint was filed against NHAI engineers by social activist Gerard Towers last week, for their negligence in rectifying a unsafe road, the Kadri East Police Station has issued notice to NHAI in connection with Karthik’s death
Mangaluru: If you happen to drive or ride on the National Highway stretch between Padua High School/College, you will notice how dangerous the road is because of depressions/ grooves at various spots, due to sliding of bitumen, and this has been posing danger to motorists, especially two-wheeler riders, where many riders have been injured or dead due to accidents from the bad condition of this NH stretch. Moved by a road accident happened last week which killed a 20-year-old degree student and Vice President of Besant evening College, Mangaluru, Karthik Mallya, after his skull was crushed under the rear wheels of the truck, near Artic furniture showroom, had a social activist Gerard Towers of Kadri raised his voice and also filed a complaint against National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), for their negligence. (Ref: 20-year-old Karthik Dies as Tanker hits Bike in Nanthur)
Karthik Mallya
In his complaint to the Kadri East Police Station, Towers had insisted an apology from the NHAI engineer Shivashankar for the death of a young student in a freak accident, due to the depression/grooves and uneven road, and had urged NHAI to rectify the unsafe road immediately. The total negligence of NHAI was the result in the death of this student. Apart from this stretch of NH road ( Padau School to Nanthoor), Towers had also complained about the road leading from Nanthoor Circle towards Bikkarnakatte, measuring around 130m and 100m, respectively, is undulating and is in frequent accidents of two-wheelers. And even after few accidents, the NHAI officials have turned a blind eye towards it. Apart from grooves and even surface, even the side of the road is not even- and chances are that two-wheelers may trip over, and could run over by speeding vehicles.
As per Towers who spoke to Team Mangalorean, where he said, “Nearly a month ago I had brought the situation of this uneven road to the notice of NHAI authorities, but they never took any action, and we now lost a youngster. In my complaint to NHAI I had mentioned about the sliding of bitumen, due to unscientific road engineering works, and creating depressions like waves on this stretch of NH from Padua School to Nanthoor junction. Even the stretch from Nanthoor till Bikkarnakatte has also such depressions, and even after my warning that such dangerous roads will lead to accidents/deaths, no one had bothered to rectify the grooves”.
“Recently during the Traffic adalat meeting, I had urged that police should file FIR’s against those officials/departments, whoa re responsible for the recent accident or any other accidents. Also, if a accident resulted in injuries or death took place due to a pothole, then MCC should be penalized. Police officers and other investigating officials should sleuth into such incidents, and take proper action, so that such accidents due to negligence of NHAI or MCC never happen again. The recent death of Karthik was due to the uneven surface of the road which led to the accident. Even a expert motorist/rider find it difficult to ply on this road” added Towers.
He further said, “Only when you raise your voice or lodge complaints we can bring in a change, but sadly, our people keep quite after accidents, and therefore we see accidents happen often due to negligence of authorities. We need to bring to the notice of such officials about their responsibilities. And if we keep silent, then we will be seeing accidents happening frequently. Let’s join together and take action against those authorities who don’t do their job right, and put people’s lives in jeopardy”.
It is learnt that Karthik who was a good student, and working hard to support his parents, the student council of Besant evening College have decided to submit a memorandum to Traffic department seeking compensation for Karthik’s parents. And as per East Traffic police, due to scarcity of bitumen, the work on asphalting of NH 66 from Padua to Nanthoor has been delayed- and in the meantime, probably few more lives will be lost in accidents on this stretch. Bah humbug! It is also learnt that NHAI officials have assured to expedite work on this unsafe road, and fix the grooves/depressions soon in order to prevent future accidents-But will they keep their promise is a million dollar question?
