Hundreds of residents of Kanigiri town staged a demonstration in front of the Prakasam Bhavan here on Thursday in protest against expansion of the National Highway 565 from Hyderabad to Yerpedu in Chittoor district, cutting through the town.
The project envisages reducing the distance by 90 km from Hyderabad for passengers travelling to southern destinations such as Tirupati, Vellore and Chennai.
The residents under the banner of the ‘NH 565 Badhithulu Committee’ led by its convener Madala Suribabu urged the government to go for a bypass road between Kasireddy Nagar and Government Degree College and spare the thickly-populated areas in the town, fearing air pollution and more road mishaps.
Houses will be razed
“Over 500 houses and shops will be razed if the road project is not redesigned,” he said.
The ‘Pedda Cheruvu’, the main source of drinking water in the drought-prone town should not be touched for the sake of the 100 ft road, they pleaded before submitting a memorandum to Prakasam Collector Sujatha Sharma.
