Thrissur: Thrissur district collector Sikha Surendran directed National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and other agencies to urgently rectify safety lapses identified on various stretches of NH 66 and NH 544 in the district, based on the findings of a joint inspection team.
According to an official release, the lapses include illegal parking, a shortage of reflective signboards and protective walls fitted with reflectors, inadequate patrolling systems and the piling up of construction debris on NH 66. Similar shortcomings were also detected on NH 544 stretch, the release said.
The collector had directed the team comprising representatives of motor vehicles department, police, local govt department and NHAI to conduct a comprehensive safety inspection of the stretches. The team subsequently conducted site inspections and submitted its report, the release said.
The order for the joint inspection was issued in the wake of the death of eight engineering students at Kaipamangalam on NH 66 a couple of days ago.
The collector said a similar joint inspection of NH 66 stretch had been ordered in June to ensure road safety ahead of the reopening of schools.
“Based on the inspection report submitted by that team, we had given a list of measures to be implemented by the NHAI and other agencies on June 24. But the NHAI had not implemented many of those recommendations either,” the collector said. Based on the findings of the latest team that inspected NH 544, the release said, the collector has directed the early completion of bus bays and the removal of encroachments
