Tamil Nadu has continued to report highest number of road
accidents, mainly caused by black spots for the past five years. Things have
not improved this year too mainly due to apathy of the National Highways
authority of India according to Industry sources. Condition of the National highways near Sriperumpudur the major
industrial hub of Chennai remains pathetic for the past several years.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin
Gadkari has expressed concern over Tamil Nadu having the highest number of
black spots in the national highways. As per the details, the minister has confirmed that the state has the highest number of
black spots in the country's national highway network.
Government has spotted more than 5,800 black
spots in India's entire national highway network, out of which 748 have been
identified in Tamil Nadu's national highways, followed by West Bengal with 701 identified black spots,
while Telangana number stood at 485
National Highways Authority of India has
spent an amount of 715,702.80 crore for the repair and maintenance of black
spots during the last five financial years 2018-19 to 2022-23. Industry sources
however point that though Tamil Nadu had the highest number of black spots the Delhi Centric NHAI has hardly allocated funds for the state
to repair the black spots. The National highways in Tamil Nadu are the worst
mainained in the country so much so the Madras high court had passed several
strictures for the bad maintenance. At one point it directed NHAI to stop
collection of toll levied on the highways in the state. Things have not
improved since the central agency hardly concentrated in repairing the black
spots in the state. An area is declared
a black spot on the national highway within a distance of roughly 500 meters,
where at least five road accidents have been reported, which resulted in ten
fatalities in the past three years. Such areas have been marked as black
spots by the both Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) and the
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
There are multiple reasons for road and highway
accidents. Out of all, black spots are considered one of the major grounds.