The death of three members of a family, after being run over by a lorry, at Madhurawada on December 9, has once again brought to the fore the long-pending demand for construction of a foot overbridge (FOB) at Madhurawada-Chandrampalem area.
Residents of Madhurawada, PM Palem, Chandrampalem, Kommadi and surrounding areas say that movement of heavy vehicles on the NH-16 stretch at high speed is posing a risk not only to two-wheelers riders, but also to the pedestrians, who are forced to cross the road due to lack of an FOB.
There has been a gradual rise in the population of PM Palem region over the last one decade. With the establishment of multiplexes, markets, theatres and shopping complexes, people tend to cross the roads for various needs. Though there is an under-bridge, only a few, mainly motorists utilise it, while pedestrians ignore it, citing long-distance. Almost all the pedestrians cross the NH-16 to reach the other side of the road. A senior traffic police officer said that despite two traffic signals, located within one-km stretch at Car Shed Junction and Kommadi Junction, some motorists were driving at a high speed. In July, a three-year-old girl had died, while her mother received injuries after being hit by a lorry while crossing the road at Madhurawada, he said.“We have to cross the road to buy essentials and for various other purposes. We do not let our children cross the roads alone,” said K Avinash, a resident of Kommadi.
School students
In the recent council meeting, Corporator of Ward no. 6, M. Priyanka, appealed to the GVMC to construct an FOB at Chandrampalem. She said that there are around 4,500 students of ZP High School, Chandrampalem, and many of them, cross the road (NH-16) to reach the school, which poses grave danger to their lives.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP-Traffic) Ch. Adinarayana said in view of risk to students, two traffic constables are being deployed in the mornings and evenings at Chandrampalem to help the children cross the road safely. In the evening, it becomes a tough task to regulate traffic, as a large number of children rush out of the school, he said. The ADCP also said that proposal for constructing a flyover at PM Palem was under consideration of the State Government.
Dangerous stretch
Yendada-Kommadi stretch has become one of the accident-prone areas in the city, contributing to a number of road accident cases. In less than a month, six persons died and many others were injured in accidents, which occurred on the stretch.
The traffic police said that an interceptor vehicle is being deployed to check overspeeding.
