Villagers raise issues faced by them to NHAI authorities

Mahabubnagar: National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officials visited the villages close to NH-44 on Wednesday and interacted with villagers about the need for service roads, underpasses and removal of black spots on the Bangalore National Highway.

Devarakadra MLA, Alla Venkateshwar Reddy, who accompanied them, gave valuable inputs to prevent mishaps at various stages on the highway.

At Vemula village, people told the officials about the need for an underpass at Vemula stage and a service road from police station to Sankalamaddi besides another service road from Vemula stage to Moosapet stage to prevent accidents. Demand for a road crossing at Achayapally stage and a service road from Achayapally stage to Janampet was also raised.

Devarkadra MLA Alla Venkateshwar Reddy also got assurances from the officials that RuBs (Road under Bridge) would be constructed at Janampet and Moosapet stages besides constructing roadside drains and toilets at Bhootpur.

However, the problems of the people are far from over. The root cause of the problem lies with L&T, who is the contractor for the highway from Jadcherla to Kothakota. While widening the highway some seven years ago, care was not taken by them to lay service roads and underpasses. Whenever they were questioned by public representatives, they would say those aspects were not part of the tender. This implies that safety of people living close to the highway was ignored by the then government and the contracting company. However, they continue to operate toll gate and collect money from people.

It has to be mentioned that GMR, the contractor for the highway from Jadcherla to Hyderabad, had taken precautionary steps to prevent accidents by constructing service roads and underpasses wherever needed.

Despite several representations given to the Centre by MP Jithender Reddy and MLA Alla Venkateshwar Reddy, this chronic problem of accidents on highways continues.

For example, a RoB (Road over Bridge) was sanctioned for Devarakadra town by R&B Department. Tenders were called and the contractor delayed in taking up works and it had lapsed. Then the road went into the jurisdiction of NHAI. Till date, the RoB has not been constructed.

“When we have something to get sanctioned, we are easily getting that work done by approaching authorities in Hyderabad. But, when it comes to the national highway issues, we are becoming helpless. I had to go to Delhi to request Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to address this problem. The maximum we could achieve out of that was an underpass at Addakal, which NHAI has assured to construct by next month,” said MLA Alla Venkateshwar Reddy, speaking to Telangana Today.