OOTY: The National Highways administration here is taking passengers including a large array of tourists, for a ride and a sort of torture during weekends, when the volume of traffic generally increases manifold on the busy Ooty-Coimbatore. It is when the NH has been taken up for blacktopping the road and to carry out other related works that cause frequent traffic snarls which turns into traumatic experience for the travelling public.
Though the NH officialdom stopped such activity after attracting public wrath for such kind of unplanned works during weekends just before summer, they are again back to square one as the change of guards in NH administration here seemingly chose to follow the old pattern of blacktopping the highway during weekends.
S. Ananthakrishnan, member of the Citizens' Forum of Coonoor, said that this weekend, the NH again began blacktopping by stopping the vehicles for lengthy period of time on both the sides of the road along the Burliar-Kallar sector of the Ooty-Coimbatore NH. He said that it not only crippled the travel plans of the passengers, but subjected them to unwanted misery in the wooded road in the rainy days.
“The NH officials can ask the district administration to close this road for a couple of days, during the weekdays, to complete their works or ask for at least one way traffic on this road so that the passengers would plan their travel better. The manner in which they hurriedly carry out the blacktopping works by focusing on one part of the road and then allowing vehicles for some time has already led to the surface becoming uneven on the road.
The works in the rains has already rendered it sub-standard. In some patches fissures began to appear on the road. The Nilgiris district administration should take it up with NH higher-ups to make sure that quality work is done in the ghat section for endurance and stability of the road,” he added.
