Fear of ‘gatecrashing’ vehicles keeps Kerala family on edge as Neelakurinji season arrives

IDUKKI: The Chemmannar-Gap Road bends sharply at Kakkakada before plunging down the Chokramudi hills.

Key points

• The last major crash, in May 2024, involved a tourist vehicle carrying visitors from Karnataka.
• Now, with the Neelakurinji season setting in next month, Chokramudi, accessed through the Munnar-Gap Road, is projected to attract substantial crowds and surge in traffic.
• According to Chokramudi resident Baiju, the residents and Bisonvalley merchants' association have sought check-posts on the route's wider portions.
• Adimali resident Subhashchandran K P, too, has petitioned the Idukki district police chief seeking safety and traffic arrangements ahead of the flowering season.

IDUKKI: The Chemmannar-Gap Road bends sharply at Kakkakada before plunging down the Chokramudi hills. On the edge of that bend stands a modest house, with a small tailoring shop attached to it. It belongs to Sasidharan and Ramani Sasidharan.

Over the years, the house has become an unintended stopping point for vehicles that fail to negotiate the steep descent. As plenty of as eight vehicles have crashed into the house and its premises, damaging the building and crops and leaving the family living in constant fear. As the Neelakurinji season nears, their fears have worsened.

Meanwhile, the last major crash, in May 2024, involved a tourist vehicle carrying visitors from Karnataka. It took place around 8.30pm while Sasi was talking to a neighbour outside. The two saw the vehicle approaching dangerously and tried to move away. Before they could, the vehicle rammed the house, killing a passenger. Ramani, who was in Palakkad with her daughter at the time, remarked a few cars, a van, a jeep and two-wheelers had met the same fate earlier.

Subsequently, the public works department built a concrete wall in front of the house. Nevertheless, this has not eased the family's fears.

"Even while the wall was being built, the workers had to run when a car apparently lost its brakes and approached dangerously. We are not sure the wall will withstand the impact of a heavy vehicle, " remarked Ramani. The couple remarked the route had been a relatively quiet ghat road before the Kerala State Transport Project (KSSTP) reconstructed the 29.9-km-long stretch in 2022 for Rs 146.67 crore under the Rebuild Kerala Project. Residents remarked the accidents climbed after reconstruction, particularly along the steep 6-km stretch between Changanasserykada and Gap. There were 31 accidents and 11 deaths on the stretch previously year alone.

According to Chokramudi resident Baiju, the residents and Bisonvalley merchants' association have sought check-posts on the route's wider portions. It has view points and enough space to park vehicles safely, besides awareness programmes for motorists. "A memorandum was submitted to authorities. The residents even held a demonstration, but no follow-up action was taken, " he alleged.

Adimali resident Subhashchandran K P, too, has petitioned the Idukki district police chief seeking safety and traffic arrangements ahead of the flowering season. "Rise in tourist rush will lead to growth in traffic. The authorities should regulate vehicle movement or take steps to divert them to prevent accidents, " Ramani remarked.

In practice, a KSTP official informed TNIE that the agency only reconstructed the flood-hit road under the Rebuild Kerala Project. In a primary inspection of the reconstructed road, it was discovered that the work was carried out without conducting land acquisition, alignment or gradient correction, steps that are notable while rebuilding a road with a steep gradient like Chemmannar-Gap Road, noted the official, adding that their absence was a prime reason for the rising accidents.

"The KSTP will write to the higher official concerned in the public works department requesting them to urge the department's road safety wing to inspect the location and take necessary steps, " she remarked. The official continued that drivers' tendency to mostly drive in neutral or high gear leads to accidents.

Taken together, the developments around fear of 'gatecrashing' vehicles keeps Kerala family on edge as Neelakurinji season point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.