With petitions to the National Highways Authority of India falling on deaf ears, students of Bertrand Russell School took it upon themselves to repair the battered stretch of National Highway-66 near Baikampady APMC Yard.
Nisha Laxman, correspondent of the school, said the students of her school and another private school have been largely affected by the bad stretch. To avoid the wide gap between the road and the culvert slab, motorists move to the far-left of the carriageway (towards Udupi) thus making it difficult for students to cross the busy highway stretch.
She said apart from submitting petition to the authorities for repair of the road, the school authorities did repair the stretch last year too. With the gap resurfacing, the school made requests this year for repair. “As there was no response, students took up the work of closing the gap,” she said.
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More than 100 students from classes 8, 9 and 10 took up the repair work at 11.30 a.m. Teachers and the school staff also joined them. While one group filled the gap with laterite stones brought from the school, another group levelled it. Traffic police stopped movement of vehicles when the students were doing the work. They completed the work around 1 p.m.
While appreciating the work of the students, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) K. Tilakchandra said there are many worn out stretches on the national highway between Thokkottu and Surathkal that needs to be repaired. The city police have sent a lot of reminders to NHAI, he said.