Basic civic facilities lacking in tech zone
No projects planned even after getting Rs 350 crore property tax
Update: 2015-10-14 03:20 GMT
Hyderabad: Over 75 per cent of GHMC projects and staff serve Hyderabad and Secunderabad, while the new city right from Madhapur to Serilingampally has poor infrastructure. Though the GHMC’s west zone generated over Rs 350 crore in property tax in 2014-15, no project has been planned for the growth corridor.
This financial year, the GHMC has collected over Rs 600 crore towards building permission fees. About 90 per cent of the applicants are setting up massive structures in Gachibowli, Kondapur and Raidurg. Around 3.5 lakh professionals reside around the IT hub. The population around the APPA Junction, Gachibowli, Gandipet, Gopanpalli, Hitec City, Hydernagar, Hyderguda, Kondapur, Khajaguda, Kokapet, Kismatpur, Kukatpally, Madhapur, Miyapur, Nanakramguda, Narsingi and Tellapur has increased manifold in 10 years.
But still, the area needs roads, pipeline network, increase in water quantity and waste disposal. No parallel roads has been opened to Madhapur and Gachibowli, with the results that the only main road is jampacked. During office hours it is a nightmare.
N. Srini from Nizampet, said, “Two weeks ago I fractured my left foot because of the bad Nizampet to Bachupally and Bachupally to Miyapur. A lot of sand and pebbles lie on the road, and vehicles skid. There are no streetlights from Nizampet to Miyapur, which is causing accidents.” J.P Roshan Manikonda said, “The condition of roads is pathetic. Even areas like Secretariat Colony, Manikonda and Puppalguda, where the rent crosses Rs 25,000 are poorly served.” Other problems include lack of desilting works in storm water drains and improper disposal of waste.
The entire area will be covered by the Strategic Road Development Plan and work will be taken up in phases, he said. New roads and flyovers will be constructed to ease traffic flow.
Tankers quench thirst of techies:
Not a single borewell in areas like Manikonda, Miyapur, Kondapur is functional and every flat and independent house is dependent on tankers. These areas get water every third day and 45 MGD of the Krishna Phase 3 has been allocated to these areas.
Around 90 per cent of the residents here depend on tankers. N. Subramanyam, a resident of Kondapur, said, “The city metropolitan board supplies 2,000 litre every third day, it is not sufficient for drinking. Each flat consumes 500 litre a day, thus at least 10,000 litre per day is needed, but the Board supplies 2,000 litre every three days. We have been depending on tankers for the last 15 years; Hitec City has no borewells.”
Around 90 per cent of the MNCs depend on tankers while many gated communities do not have borewells. Officials of the Water Board meanwhile, said that there were no internal network of water pipelines at the city’s IT hub.
At Madhapur and surrounding areas, residents get water supply only once in three days, and the gap increases to five days in summer. “Residents of Rajendranagar get better supply as internal water supply lines are being laid in the area. New colonies that have come up in the surrounding municipalities without access to distribution lines will have to wait until pipelines are laid,” they said. The Board has submitted a proposal of about '3,195 crore to lay the distribution network to the government.
Accidents rising due to traffic:
Heavy traffic combined with poor roads has increased the number of accidents in Rajendra Nagar and Madhapur. Nearly 30 per cent of the “fatal accidents” and deaths from the Cyberabad region in August were reported from these areas. A total of 92 deaths were reported in the Cyberabad region during this period. Of these, Malkajgiri, L.B. Nagar and Rajendranagar registered over 40 accidents. The Cyberabad Traffic Police has analysed accident data from the region for the month of August and also the overall data till now this year. Contrary to the general belief that main roads are risky, in Cyberabad, over 432 accidents from January are from “internal roads”.
An account of “Victim Vehicle wise Accident Analysis” from January this year states that 284 pedestrians have suffered fatal accidents while 220 motorists have also been victims. In the fatal accidents’ profile of Hyderabad, pedestrians have been the victims of over 130 accidents. In the accused section, over 200 accidents have been caused by motorcycles. In Hyderabad region too, out of the 1,600 cases, nearly 590 accidents were caused by two-wheelers.
Poor transport irks citizens:
Techies living in Hyderabad and working in IT companies located in areas like Gachibowli, Kondapur, Madhapur and Hitech City are unhappy with the poor public transport connectivity offered by the railways, MMTS and the TSRTC.
Between peak hours of 8 am to 11 am, MMTS offers just six services on the Falaknuma-Lingampalli route and only two to Lingampalli from Hyderabad station. Apart from poor frequency, MMTS trains are not punctual and are always packed during peak hours.
The situation with TSRTC is no different. Bus routes 216, 217, 222, 113 and 127K along with 10H and 47K are important for those travelling from Hyderabad and Secunderabad areas to Cyberabad. Buses are scarce on 216 and 217 routes, which originate from Koti and pass through major city areas and are used by those travelling to Gachibowli.
For commuters travelling from Uppal and areas like Ramanthapur and Nallakunta, 113H might have proved to be a boon for traveling to Hitec City, but frequency is an issue even on this route.