BENGALURU: Nelamangala, on the outskirts of the city is the main entrance to Bengaluru from 17 districts and witnesses huge traffic. But deep pits dug on the roadside along the Nelamangala-Tumakuru stretch of NH-48 for road widening work is posing a danger to motorists. The road widening work is been going on since several years and still remains incomplete. Road users havee vented their ire at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and demanded that the work be speeded up.
Byranahalli Venkatesh, a local resident, felt the design of the road itself is wrong and added that no precautionary measures have been taken by the engineers or the authorities concerned. Accidents in the area have increased because there are no warnings or alerts posters, no signboards put on the roadside to draw the attention of road users, he pointed out.
He also claimed the Nelamangala-Tumakur road widening work is going on at a slow pace. “Thousands of vehicles ply on the road every day. We have made several requests to the NHAI authorities, but to no avail. The government should take up the issue and discuss it with the NHAI at the earliest”, Venkatesh added.
Gram panchayat member Ganesh said the NHAI had acquired fertile land from farmers for road widening work without paying proper compensation as per the Supreme Court guidelines and the officers are delaying making payments giving various excuses like documents or approval letters are not correct and NHAI officials are now approaching the departments concerned to rectify the issue.
Locals have expressed outrage over the slow pace of work, claiming that there is no safety for the lives of motorists on the Nelamangala-Tumakuru stretch of the highway.