COIMBATORE: Motorists expressed concerns as concave mirrors set up by the state highways department on the hairpin bends of Valparai hill road are damaged. Motorists said that concave mirrors are completely damaged in three places and in a few other places mirrors are partially damaged within the 9 km stretch between Monkey Falls and Attakatti on Pollachi to Valparai road.
According to sources, the aim of the mirror is to help the motorists heading to Valparai, which is one of the notable tourist spots in the Coimbatore district, from Pollachi and vehicles descending to Pollachi, to know about the vehicles coming from the opposite direction and to avoid head-on collision on the hairpin bends.
Motorists said, "However, there is a high chance of mishaps due to the lack of reflective mirrors at the 4, 7 and 8th Hairpin bends and we are facing difficulties in the sharp curves."
A N Ganesh, who owns a tea shop at Attakatti, told TNIE that the mirrors are damaged by bonnet macaques, that climb over them soon after noticing the tourist vehicles in the hope that the tourists will feed them. Ganesh suggested that the highway officials should apply grease on the rear side of the mirror so that the macaques cannot approach them.
Another resident of Attakatti, on condition of anonymity, said, "Out of 40 hairpin bends on Valparai road, 16 hairpin bends are located near Monkey waterfall to Attakatti. The state highway officials could have replaced them well before the summer since a large number of motorists had faced difficulties."
When contacted, a senior highway department official said that they had replaced the damaged mirrors only in January with the help of sponsors. "However, the mirrors have been damaged within a few months. We suspect that some of the youths come in two-wheelers and damage the mirror, while other mirrors have been damaged by the macaques," the official said.
"We are waiting for the summer holidays to get over, following which we will take up the work with the help of the same sponsor. We will also try to apply grease to keep the macaques at bay," the official added.