Despite restrictions on movement of vehicles on beach road from NTR statue to Alluri Sitaramaraju statue from 5 a.m. to 7.30 a.m. several accidents are occurring as motorists tend to violate norms The ‘no vehicle zone’ was created to allow the morning walkers, young skaters and cyclists take up their activity in a peaceful and risk-free ambience.
On Monday morning at around 5.30 a.m. an errant motorcyclists entered the zone from the wrong side at a high speed and after missing a few young skaters and senior citizens rammed a divider. The driver suffered serious head and leg injuries and due to the high speed, the bike flew to the other side and missed hitting a few senior citizens who were on their morning walk.
Every day morning, beach road is full of people from age varying from 5-year-old to 80 plus. And the authorities concerned have declared a ‘no vehicle zone’ during that period. And in the last two years, there were several such incidents, said well-known photographer and morning walker B.K. Agarwal.
He was grievously injured last January, when he was hit by a speeding biker.
According to Ms. Ranee Sarma, social activist, there are two issues involved in these incidents.
“One is - how do the bikers get on to the road when it is banned. Where are the enforcement agencies, and the second is response of the authorities concerned after the incident,” she said.
As per the police order, makeshift barricades are erected on both ends of the road (at NTR statue and Alluri statue) every day. “This is being followed, but there are no barricades at the other connecting roads. Most of the bikers enter through the bylanes such as Museum road, YMCA or Pandurangapuram. The police should see that barricades are kept, if they intend to make the ‘no vehicle zone’ period incident free,” said D.S. Varma, secretary of Visakha Public Library, and a morning walker.
Signage is another thing that is missing. There is no signage indicating the ban order with the timings on any of the roads.
Lukewarm response
Response from the police is also lukewarm. Earlier, a few police would be posted not only at both the ends but also near the connecting roads. But now the men in khaki can be seen only at the end points, said Ms. Ranee Sarma.
Moreover, at times when the Beach Patrol vehicle was approached the response was very cold and there were days when they said that they are off duty. If they are off duty where is the replacement, and why are they hanging around, said Mr. EAS Sarma, former Union Energy Secretary avid morning walker.
On Monday, when the accident took place, the response both from the police and the ambulance service was not up to the mark, complained Ms. Ranee Sarma.
“The ambulance service, informed us that they cannot attend as they are short of vehicle and when we called Dial 100, the operator asked us under which police station jurisdiction did the accident take place. Now how do we know that? And it took 20 minutes for a police jeep to come, when the Beach Patrol was parked somewhere near by. We are a smart city and emergency services should be smarter,” she said.