Lack of maintenance of National Highway 44 invites accidents Incessant rains during the southwest monsoon till October-end and Cyclone Nivar left the national highways and State highways damaged, requiring a lot of maintenance, but what one observes on National Highway No.44 when one drives down from Bengaluru or Hyderabad is the stark difference in the regular maintenance of the stretch between Dhone in Kurnool district to Kodikonda on Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka border. A day-long survey of this stretch of NH 44 by Anantapur Deputy Transport Commissioner N. Sivaram Prasad along with The Hindu team brought out spots of utter neglect shown by the contractor and the National Highways authorities. For a common traveller in a personal vehicle from Bengaluru to Hyderabad or in the opposite direction the contrast in road conditions between Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka is very obvious and officials believe accidents are waiting to happen on this stretch.