Residents, farmers, traders and and students in Nayakkanur, a remote tribal village near Tirupattur town, detained buses of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) on Friday demanding levelling of the narrow bitumen road to prevent accidents. Residents said that the existing road that runs through Alangayam reserve forest (RF) to a distance of 2.5 km was laid more than three decades ago in 1986. The 3.75-metre-wide-stretch was relaid without milling the top bitumen layer. This has raised the existing road level to at least three feet, causing motorists especially during night to slip from the carriageway and hurt themselves.
Also, motorists were unable to use open space along the carriageway to bypass other vehicles due to the height of the road. As a result, the stretch witnesses traffic congestion, especially during rush hour. “Our children get hurt as they fall from the carriageway. Despite the wide open space, vehicles have to go on the narrow carriageway due to its mismatch in height,” said Mekalai Tirupati, president, Nayakkanur village panchayat.
