NHAI officials along with local residents inspecting the traffic situation on the Tiruchi-Karur National Highway passing through Thiruparaithurai near Tiruchi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The road safety consultant of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will soon study the prevailing traffic situation at Thiruparaithurai on Tiruchi-Karur National Highway in the wake of persistent public demands for building a vehicular underpass (VUP) in the village.
A decision to this effect was taken after a team of NHAI officials, along with senior police officials, local resident, and activists, made an on-the spot inspection of the traffic situation during the peak hour in the morning at Thiruparaithurai on Tuesday morning.
With a clutch of schools and the Tharugavaneswara Swamy Temple situated close to highway, the residents have been urging the NHAI to improve the road infrastructure at the village for the safety of a large number of students and devotees who cross the highway every day. Residents and activists have been urging NHAI to build a VUP to avert any major accident.
Over 1,500 students commute to five schools in Thiruparathurai every day. This apart, a large number of devotees visit the temple, especially on auspicious days. The students are at a high risk while crossing the highway amid the speeding traffic even though the police placed a series of temporary steel barricades to slow down traffic, the locals contend.
On Tuesday, A.N. Praveen Kumar, project director, NHAI, Tiruchi; K.K. Balachandar, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Jeeyapuram; Rangasami, former headmaster; K. Thangaraj, a retired Air Force officer from the village; P. Ayyarappan, president, Road Users Welfare Association; and others inspected the highway stretch passing through the village. The villagers reiterated the demand for building a VUP and a pedestrian subway as an immediate safety measure.
NHAI sources said the safety consultant would be asked to study the situation in the village and suggest ways to enhance safety. Based on the recommendations, expected within a couple of months, appropriate follow up action would be taken, the sources added.