Residents and commuters said Monday’s tragedy, caused by an overloaded lorry losing control and veering into a passenger bus, underlined the hazards of travelling on a single-lane highway with no divider. “The road has become a death trap. Everyone knew it, but nothing moved for years,” said a local resident.
The NGT’s southern bench, led by Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, approved a revised National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) proposal that preserves most of the roadside trees. Of the 950 trees along the route, only 150 will be translocated instead of being cut down. With this assurance, the petitioners withdrew their case, allowing the tribunal to lift the stay and direct the immediate start of work.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy subsequently instructed officials to fast-track construction. However, Monday’s crash has reignited debate over the years of delay and the human toll it took. Locals said that had the widening works been completed earlier, many of these deaths, including those in Monday’s accident, might have been prevented.
