Ending months of uncertainty, the Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA) has sanctioned Rs.88.76 lakh for installing traffic signals on the 5.5-km Karamana-Pravachambalam stretch of the NH 66 that was widened into a four-lane corridor.
The 29{+t}{+h}meeting of the KRSA that met under the chairmanship of State Chief Secretary S.M. Vijayanand here on Wednesday decided to allocate money from the road safety fund for the six solar powered traffic signals.
The stretch has been witnessing a spurt in the road accidents ever since it was commissioned in March this year.
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Over a dozen persons, mostly pedestrians, had been killed on the stretch as vehicles speed here despite deployment of traffic police personnel in the busy junctions and crash barriers on vulnerable stretches.
As the model code of conduct is in force for the May 16 Assembly elections, official sources said the KRSA meeting was convened with the approval of the Chief Electoral Officer in view of the spurt in fatal road accidents.
The solar-powered traffic signals are to be installed in Niramankara, Kaimanam, Pappanamcode, Karakkamandapam, Vellayani, and Nemom, the busy junctions in the stretch.
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Keltron to install
Road Safety Commissioner and State Transport Commissioner Tomin J. Thachankary said the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (Keltron) would install the signals. Keltron had long ago submitted an estimate of Rs.1.10 crore for installing these signals. It was forwarded by the Public Works Department National Highway wing that executed the road-widening work to the KRSA for clearance.
The reason for sanctioning only Rs.88.76 lakh by the authority, which has the Road Safety Commissioner as the convenor, is not known. Already, the PWD (NH) wing had laid the pipes for laying the cables and the signals can be installed without digging roads. Residents’ associations and traders on the stretch have been agitating against the KRSA for the delay in installing the traffic signals.
Solar-powered lights in six junctions
Keltron will install the signals
Over a dozen persons killed in accidents on the widened stretch