65-km stretch to be six-lane way

Nellore: The highway that connects coastal districts with the Rayalaseema region, which is a threat to life and limb between Naidupeta and Tirupati for a stretch of 65 km, is now going to be expanded as a six-lane way to prevent fatal accidents.

The road which is called Naidupeta-Puthalapattu highway is generally meant for travelers to reach Tirumala Shrine via Srikalahasti. Even though there is another way from Gudur via Venkataigiri which touches Yerpedu and passes through rural areas of Nellore and Chittoor districts it is not preferred.

The stretch between Naidupeta and Tirupati has been witness to several ghastly road accidents leading to a number of deaths every year. Just to prevent these accidents, the Union government proposed to upgrade it into a six-lane highway intersecting Yerpedu-Venkatagiri highway and joining near Merlapaka tank.

In fact, the road structure is very poor and there are 17 black spots’ in a stretch of 50 km. There were as many as 70 deaths in 150 major accidents on the highway between Nayudupeta and Srikalahasthi, falling under Nayudupeta circle, alone in the last three years due to lack of signboards, indicators or zebra lines at this intersection.    

Even though the previous Congress government planned to convert the stretch into a four-lane highway in 2009 at a cost of Rs 500 Cr, the proposal was delayed due to lack of funds and lay in cold storage, even as people were killed in horrific mishaps.

Finally, the Central government gave its nod and came up with a plan to convert it into a six-lane highway and the process has already started. Revenue officials have started survey activity wherever necessary for completing the land acquisition process.

The earlier four-lane proposal was now being recast for the six-lane highway and the plans are being revised accordingly under supervision of the NHAI authorities.

The officials now propose to acquire 96 hectares of land for extension of the highway at Nelaballi, Kothur, Pellakuru, Chillakuru, Jeelapaturu, Chavali, L.Ananthasagaram, Chintapudi, Vinnamala, Juvvaladinne, Pennepalli, Talvaipadu and Punabaka villages.

They also issued 3-A notices to the land owners as part of the acquisition process. “We are planning to complete the survey process within a month. Then, we will issue 3-D notices to the owners of lands. Farmers or people who own lands would get better compensation compared to the registration value,” said a senior official from the revenue department. 

There is a problem of auto-rickshaws on this highway leading to frequent accidents and the transport department would conduct identification of ‘black spots’ for making the stretch safe and preventing accidents in the future.

By PV Prasad