THRISSUR: A protest is brewing against the ongoing works of the first six-lane toll highway in the state between Mannuthy and Vadakkanchery here citing lack of proper underpasses in the 25-kilometre stretch for the safe movement of people residing on either sides of the road.
Seeking more subways, Janakeeya Samithi (People’s Forum) here has approached both the Human Rights Commission and Justice T. K. Chandrasekhara Das Commission which was constituted to conduct a study on road accidents in the state with all documents about the nearby Mannuty-Karukutty 37-kilometre four-lane toll way, where every fourth day, a person dies in an accident allegedly due to the lack of proper subways/underpasses for vehicles and pedestrians to cross the road.
In this stretch, as many as 133 persons have died in the past five years while crossing the road as per the study conducted by the Samithi collecting official documents.
On Sunday, the Samithi conducted a candlelight vigil at Mullakkara, a major junction on the six-lane highway and paid obeisance to those who had died in road accidents.
There are 12 major junctions on the Mannuthy - Vadakkanchery highway, where frequent accidents occur even though it is at present a two-lane highway.
When DC contacted the working engineer concerned of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in-charge of the six-lane project, he said that as of now only in four places in the 25-kilometre stretch underpasses/flyovers had been proposed in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and it was up to the Central and State Governments to take a call on the demand of the
protesters.
