In Thanjavur, a highway nightmare for travellers

A 40-km stretch of NH 45 C is ridden with potholes, bumps

Ridden with numerous potholes, punctuated with over a dozen speed breakers and marked by dangerous kinks, the roughly 40-km-long Thanjavur-Kumbakonam highway provides the traveller with a bumpy ride.

In particular, the road users are sore that the Highways Department and the district administration are turning a blind eye to the reckless manner in which the speed breakers have been erected and potholes ignored. Expeditious and holistic development of the section that forms part of the Thanjavur-Vikravandi NH 45 C stretch is a vital need, they insist.

Speed breakers galore

“There are at least a dozen speed breakers en route and singularly they have made the route unpopular among regular road users,’’ said social activist T. Saravanan of Papanasam.

The speed breakers, or a series of rumbles, at Mathoor, Nallichery, Pasupathykoil, Ayyampettai, Chakrapalli, Papanasam, Thirupaalathurai (two spots), Utthani, Sundaraperumal Koil, Thiruvalanchuzhi and Darasuram, have deterred road users from traversing the stretch even in times of urgency.

Even ambulance drivers are forced to use the Swamimalai-Tiruvaiyaru or the Darasuram-Thittai stretches and, in the process, lose precious minutes that divide life and death for the patients who are being rushed to the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital for treatment daily from as far as Mayiladuthurai and Kumbakonam, Mr. Saravanan said.

He called upon the authorities to have a proper vision in developing the stretch that lies in an important pilgrimage zone frequented by travellers from various States.

Worse still, even many district-level officials prefer to take alternative routes for fear of tackling the speed breakers and the potholes that hinder quick travel, said a wholesaler S. Ravichandran of Big Street, Kumbakonam.

During Mahamaham or a VIP tour, when extremely shrill voices for repair arise, the authorities undertake cosmetic repair or renovation.

Either they have no feasible plan to develop the road stretch or are not in a position to implement it. Both situations are of no use to the travellers and commuters, he pointed out.

The National Highways Authority of India is seized of a comprehensive plan to develop the Thanjavur-Vikravandi section of the NH 45 C, but preliminary work such as land acquisition and related works have not gained desirable pace in the particular section.

Rapid urbanisation marked by a chain of residential areas without a break, crisscrossing waterways and fertile wet fields abutting the road are other factors that damage the highway.

The serpentine road is marked by kinks that have toyed with the life of several road users from other States, who are unaware of the lurking dangers.

Fatalities

Sources in the police department said there were 248 accidents, resulting in 66 casualties in 2012, 203 accidents with 75 casualties in 2013, 230 mishaps with 58 deaths the next year, and 225 accidents involving 61 deaths in 2015. In 2016, 190 accidents, resulting in the loss of 54 lives, were recorded in the highway section.

The accidents and fatalities call for urgent and holistic development of the vital Thanjavur-Kumbakonam highway.