Crossing National Highway 150 to reach their schools and colleges has become a challenge for students of both private and government educational institutions in Yadgir city in Karnataka, as they are forced to put their lives at risk daily.

The NH 150 connects Kalaburagi with Gooty in Andhra Pradesh. The highway passes through Yadgir city.

Students have to cross the national highway to reach their schools and colleges. To add to their trouble, the highway does not have rumble strips or road humps to alert motorists.

Parents have demanded that scientific road humps be placed on the highway near school zones between the office of the Deputy Commissioner and Basaveshwar Gunj Circle and impose speed limits on vehicles. They have also urged putting caution boards at key points alerting drivers to drive slowly.

“The lives of our children are at risk. The government should take immediate initiative to ensure their safety before any untoward incident,” said Sharanu Gadduge.

The NHAI authorities are not in a position to yield to the demand.

Ramu, Executive Engineer of National Highway, told The Hindu, “The NHAI will not place any speed-breaker or road hump on national highways because of a direction by the Supreme Court.” He, however, said that the City Municipal Council should take necessary steps within their limits.

The NHAI has a proposal to construct a bypass for Yadgir city at a cost of ₹136 crore. The 8-kilometre bypass will start near Basavanagar on the Kalaburagi main road, and end at Mundaragi village. The proposed bypass will ease vehicle movement within city limits, and avoid possible road accidents.

However, the project is getting delayed owing to land acquisition issues following the mismatching of survey numbers in land records, sources said.

Channareddy Patil Tunnur, MLA, said that he had a discussion with officials. He said that he will insist that schools and colleges write to the Deputy Commissioner to solve the problem.

Meanwhile, the Education Department plans to issue instructions to the educational institutions to deploy a security person to take the children into the schools and escort them while crossing the road while returning.

When contacted, Deputy Director of Public Instructions (DDPI) C.S. Mudhol told The Hindu that he will issue notices to the schools to take immediate initiatives for the safety of students.