Repair work begins after locals demand 'divorce' for road

Coimbatore: Officials of the national highways department on Tuesday began carrying out repairs on the 1.03km stretch from VG Hospital to Vadamadurai, a day after commuters demanded ‘divorce’ for the stretch from the Mettupalayam Road (NH67).

After it was identified as an accident prone-zone, the stretch was expanded and re-laid at a cost of Rs 9crore, local residents said.

But, within five months, the surface of the road peeled off and became uneven, leading to more accidents.

To invite the the attention of authorities to the sorry state of the road, commuters and activists on Monday distributed ‘divorce invitations’ for the stretchthe daughter of publicfrom the Mettupalayam Road (NH67)the son of the national highways department. They demanded that the road be re-laid.

On Tuesday morning, national highways department officials arrived to repair the stretch.

Secretary of the Road Safety Association M Deventhiran, who organised the ‘divorce’ protest, said the officials had started preliminary work and were studying the stretch to find the reason for peeling off of the top layer of asphalt.

An official promised to begin repair work on Tuesday night. “We will remove the portions of the old surface where the newly-laid asphalt peeled off and relay the damaged portions all along the stretch,” he said.