The spree of pothole-related fatal and non-fatal accidents on NH 66, NH 544, and other ill-maintained highway corridors in Kerala has led to the demand for the suspension of the State Support Agreement (SSA) that permitted the contracting firms of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to collect hefty toll from motorists.
This comes in the wake of firms levying toll and even increasing them every year citing the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), even as work on service roads, drains, and many other mandatory components on highways and NH bypasses was left incomplete, or they were in a shoddy condition.
The State government had entered into the SSA with the NHAI a decade and a half ago, on the agency’s assurance that there would be a quantitative and qualitative improvement of NH corridors in Kerala if it was permitted to collect toll.
