Shrines hit traffic hard in Hyderabad city

Hyderabad: Bang in the middle of the road or encroaching the entire width of the footpath, several religious structures across the city stand tall. Not only do they cause inconvenience to the motorists or pedestrians trying to use footpaths, these structures exist in violation of the rules.

More than 65 road-widening projects of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation   are pending as acquisition of such religious structures remains an uphill task. Over 30 of these are pending in what is classified as the Central Zone of GHMC.

“Acquisition of other buildings is also pending. It is the religious structures who seldom agree to relocate. It becomes more complicated as every structure has some political backing,” said a senior official from the town planning department

However, a member from management committee of a Mosque had a different opinion. “We know GHMC needs to acquire a portion of the mosque for a road-widening project, but officials have never contacted us directly till date. Our political representatives take decisions pertaining to demolitions. If leaders ask to relocate, we will. If they say don’t, we won’t.”

“We will act according to the will and wish of our leaders who represent us, because they reflect beliefs of those who elected or stood by them,” said the care-taker of a temple located in South Zone.

Activists are of the opinion that it is GHMC, which has failed miserably and that they should take stringent steps to relocate religious structures for providing better infrastructure to the citizens. They said that a government should treat the religious structures based on whether they are illegal or legal.

“The Tolichowki flyover was built spending Rs. 45 crores, when the government could have taken up road widening by removing and relocating both the Dargah and the Temple. The issue of acquisition of authorized structures kept aside, why does the corporation need clearance to remove illegal religious structures?” said Khalid Hasan, member Awami Insaaf Movement and admin of Hyderabad Traffic Police Suggestions Page.

Couple of grievances requesting GHMC to remove illegal religious structures in the public places filed by Mr. Khalid requesting were “disposed off.”

Retired government official and General Secretary of Forum for Better Hyderabad, Omin Manekshaw Debara, said “All that the government officials want to do is finish off their two years of term in a peaceful manner. As a first step, action should be taken against those government officials who aren’t enforcing the rules.”

“Religious structures aren’t built overnight. How can one not notice the construction of a religious structure when it is in the starting phase? The government officials should be taking action on such structures immediately. Waiting till the construction is completed and then speaking about acquisition or relocation is illogical,” Mr. Debara said.

In a review meeting held on Wednesday, GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar directed senior officials "to speed up the works with regard to road widening." He further added that civic related departments "will be visiting important junctions, road widening sites,” which are creating “lot of congestion for free flow of traffic and as well as to the pedestrians on the footpaths.”

List of important structures blocking the roads:

1. Ek Minar Masjid at Nampally. This Masjid blocks half of the road and is a major bottleneck.

2. Hanuman Mandir at Jambagh in the middle of the road, which made the road widening a useless exercise.

3. Dargah at Malakpet Railway Station junction.

4. Bhagyalakshmi Mandir at Basheerbagh.

5. Scores of Mandirs and Dargahs, all illegal, opposite Victory Play Ground in Chaderghat.