Stagnant water at Kovaneri Bridge near Valliyoor turns into an accident zone on national highway

The stagnant rainwater on the National Highways Authority of India’s four-lane road at Kovaneri near Valliyoor, which has seen several accidents claiming 14 lives in the past, took one more life on Saturday

The stagnant rainwater on the National Highways Authority of India’s four-lane road at Kovaneri near Valliyoor, which has seen several accidents claiming 14 lives in the past, took one more life on Saturday.

The police said a team of videographers and photographers of a Nagercoil-based studio was going to Thoothukudi in a car to cover a function. When they reached the Kovaneri Bridge on the Kanniyakumari–Tirunelveli National Highway, the car went out of control soon after entering the pool of water at the entrance of the bridge.

As soon as the car enter the pool of water, it swerved to the right, hit the concrete median, and overturned on the highway. Videographer Naveen, 32, of Marungur in Nagercoil, was killed on the spot while his colleagues Pandi and Karthi suffered serious injuries. The injured were rushed to the hospital for treatment.

The Valliyoor police, who visited the spot, sent the body of Naveen to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem.

“Even though we have sent several representations to the National Highways Authority of India, which collects toll at two places between Tirunelveli and Nagercoil – one at Nanguneri and the other one at Thiruppathisaaram – to fix this problem, the NHAI is not ready to act and passengers are paying a heavy price. Even after witnessing the death of 14 persons at this spot, the NHAI adamantly refuses to act,” says advocate Jegan of Valliyoor.

He says water stagnation is a common feature at almost every bridge on the four-lane national highway because of substandard work and maintenance of the road for which the NHAI collects toll.

“When the NHAI refused to re-lay the Thoothukudi–Tirunelveli National Highway even after the dangerous potholes caused several accidents, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed it to collect only 50% of the toll at Vaagaikulam plaza. So, I have decided to approach the court to teach a lesson to the NHAI, which does not care for the safety of thousands of people travelling on the road every day,” Mr. Jegan added.