COIMBATORE: Speed-breakers installed by the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) not conforming to specifications coupled with absence of street lights are posing a threat to motorists here. While the road safety committee has slammed the civic body for not taking action against officials who allowed illegal speed-breakers, the corporation commissioner said the committee members did not raise the issue with him.
As part of the road laying work, the civic body has been installing speed-breakers at unnecessary places including small interior roads. To make matters worse, the officials have been installing speed-breakers without proper markings or reflective painting (thermoplasting). The road safety committee has alleged that the CCMC has failed to address the issue despite several fatal accidents reported in Coimbatore city due to illegal speed-breakers.
K Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause and member of the Coimbatore Road Safety Panel, told TNIE, “As per the IRC (Indian Road Congress) norms, speed-breakers must be installed only on small interior roads, at a distance of 10 metres ahead of intersection with the main road. But here, no one follows that. The officials have been installing speed-breakers at their will. Even on a small interior road, the CCMC has been installing 4 to 5 speed-breakers. It’s better to leave the roads in a broken condition instead of spending money to pave new roads and install so many speed-breakers.”
“There is no accountability. The officials are not being punished and held responsible for any accidents or fatal deaths. There are no proper markings or reflective paintings on these illegal speed-breakers. We raised the issue during the road safety committee meeting several times with the CCMC. But no action has been taken by them,” he added.
CCMC commissioner M Sivaguru Prabhakar denied the charges and said the action would be taken if the committee provided the list of illegal speed-breakers. Prabakaran said, “We have around Rs 1 crore from our funds to install around 100 speed-breakers in places mentioned by the road safety committee. Also, funds are allocated for thermoplasting road markings only on the major roads. The road safety committee has never met me directly or given its recommendation to me in person. Whatever issues they had raised during the monthly road safety meetings have been rectified. Due to local demand and other issues, the officials would have installed speed-breakers on interior roads. If the committee provides us with the list of speed-breakers that need to be removed in the city, we shall remove them immediately,” he added.