42 lives lost on Aroor-Thuravoor route

Some traffic experts portend accidents to rise after the completion of the National Highway 66. This is supported by the statistics that the number of accidents in Tamil Nadu did not show a dip but rather a spike, even after the completion of wide six-lane and eight-lane highways. Vehicles are allowed to ply at a higher speed in these routes, which may implicitly encourage rash driving and thus accidents.

However, in Kerala, many lives were lost on the roads even before the construction of the National Highway was completed. The accidents were not caused by excessive speed. Rather, poor standards, negligence, and lack of hazard indicators were to blame.

The incident in which Alappuzha native Rajesh, the driver, died after a huge girder fell on top of his pickup van during the construction of the Aroor-Thuravoor road turned the construction on this route into a nightmare. Continuing construction work without following safety measures is said to have led to the loss of lives. If the authorities had shown the sanity to divert traffic through this route while installing the girder on the pillars, the tragedy could have been avoided.

42 people have lost their lives in road accidents on the Aroor-Thuravoor route, where the elevated road is being constructed. Accidents are recurring at many places during the construction of National Highway 66. There have been incidents of girders collapsing in the Alappuzha district before. A total of four girders collapsed. Although these fell on top of the temporary shed where the construction workers were staying, fortunately, no life was lost.

There are a lot of safety measures to be followed when lifting girders. The warnings and safety measures being openly flouted resulted in the tragedy in Alappuzha. This resulted in the sole breadwinner of a family losing his life after being crushed under the weight of eighty tons.

A migrant worker died the other day after being buried under the soil dumped from a tipper lorry on the Kollam bypass. Adequate lighting is still a luxury at many construction sites. The lack of safety measures will lead to the recurrence of such accidents. There are allegations that large companies that take over the responsibility of the National Highways are awarding subcontracts to companies that do not meet adequate standards. The working conditions are despicable, and workers are not even given proper training to execute work, risky in nature. The increase in accidents also indicates that there is a deficiency in the supervision of the National Highways Authority officials.