Locals raise concerns during ADGP's inspection of expressway

NT Correspondent

Ramanagara: Concerned over the rising number of accidents on the 10- lane Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway, Additional Director General of Police Traffic and Road Safety, Alok Kumar on Tuesday inspected a stretch of the highway from Babusapalya near Kumbalgodu, approximately 27 kilometres from Bengaluru.

The senior official also held discussions with the project director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Rahul Gupta, and suggested various measures to reduce the number of accidents and improve access for villagers to the service roads. Alok Kumar directed the police officers concerned to deploy personnel in uniform on the highway and said that their presence will prompt motorists to decrease speed.

"When I was serving as SP in Davanagere, we had initiated patrolling on the highway after which the accident rate dropped by about 40 per cent. Now, not even a single personnel is seen on the highway from Bengaluru to Belagavi. Police patrol is must on all highways," he said.

The ADGP was accompanied by IGP (central range) Ravikanthe Gowda, Ramanagara SP Karthik Reddy, officials of NHAI and Dileep Buildcon Ltd. Alok Kumar also met some villagers who poured out their problems. They pointed out that so far no inspection was carried out by the NHAI officials after the expressway was inaugurated. "We have to go around 3 km to cross the road and schoolchildren are finding it difficult," one complained.