BHOPAL: The demand for installation of barricades on roads constructed along canals and water streams to avert repetition of Sidhi accident, which claimed 54 lives, is gaining ground. The issue was raised by a BJP legislator during a call attention motion, in the Assembly on Friday.
MLA, Subedar Singh Sikarwar, demanded installation of railings on 70 kilometre stretch along ABC canal in Morena district. The legislator claimed that initially when the plan was laid for the construction of the concrete road along the canal, the provision and estimate for the protection railing was also mentioned, however, later it was scrapped. The MLA informed that earlier two youths- Akash Sikarwar and Koshlendra Bhadoria had died after their car fell into the canal.
The MLA stating that the road along the canal witnesses heavy traffic, said that people commuting on the road have become very apprehensive after the Sidhi bus accident.
Responding to the MLA, the PWD minister Gopal Bhargava assured him that the department has decided to install crash barriers on 44 culverts. The minister, however, refused installing railing on the entire route saying that it would cost over Rs 50 crore. The minister also clarified that there was no provision for the railing in the road estimate plan.
