Andhra Pradesh - Ongole   

Row over widening of Chennai-Kolkata NH

Special Correspondent

Car plunges into drain due to non-completion of work The municipality provided a temporary drain to discharge the excess water across the highway

ONGOLE: Even as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ongole Municipality indulged in a wrangle over incompletion of widening of the Chennai-Kolkata National Highway No. 5 in the town limits to the standards, accidents occur at the south byepass road.

A Maruti Esteem car plunged into the road-side drain as the abutment works were not taken up by the NHAI till now.

Request

Ongole Municipality has been requesting the NHAI to take up the drain works and formation of service roads in the town limits to avoid accidents but in vain. As the widened National Highway was not provided with sufficient number of vents at the south byepass road, many houses in the slum area were inundated in the rains in October last year.

The municipality provided a temporary drain to discharge the excess water across the highway.

An industrialist, C.C.K. Reddy, who was going from Ongole to Nellore in his Esteem vehicle, had to apply sudden brake to save the life of a stray pig crossing the road at south byepass road

As he lost control, the vehicle plunged into the temporary drain dug by the municipality.

The accident highlighted the need for NHAI to provide side drains and proper vents to the highway to meet the requirements of the local traffic and for smooth flow of heavy traffic moving on the highway.

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