Hyderabad: Idol trucks damage narrow lanes, power lines snipped

Hyderabad: Police personnel in the East Zone displayed a lack of judgement when they diverted Ganesh idols to narrow streets on Tuesday. The idols and the immersion processions caused serious damage to electric, cable and internet lines in the lanes.

As per the route map issued by the city police, idols from Ramanthapur were supposed to take the route that passed the Amberpet Gandhi Statue and Sri Ramana Theatre. During peak hours, the general traffic along these routes was supposed to be diverted to alternate roads. However, a few police personnel diverted the trucks carrying idols to an alternate route from the Polytechnic College area to Bagh Amberpet and from Red Building Junction to the Gandhi Statue.

J.V. Ramana, a resident living near the Red Building, said that the police began diverting small trucks to that route on Tuesday evening, and  they began allowing larger trucks during the night.

“A large tusker was stuck at the Red Building Junction for about one hour, from 11.30 pm to 12.30 am. Cable lines along the route were either cut or damaged,” he said.

B. Srinivas, the watchman of an apartment building in Bagh Amberpet, said that locals had to endure three power cuts on Tuesday night because of electric lines being damaged. 

“The linemen were on duty and they rectified the problem within 10 to 15 minutes each time. But a few colonies near Bathukamma Kunta did not have power until the morning,” he said.

Local cable operators and internet service providers, except for BSNL, began repairing their lines on Wednesday morning and restored services by the afternoon. Kailash Agarwal, a trader from Amberpet said, “We lodged several complaints with the BSNL customer service centres, for the restoration of broadband and phone lines, but there was no response from the linemen.”

Similar situations prevailed at colonies in Nimboli Adda, Kacheguda, Amberpet, DD Colony, Vidyanagar, Ramnagar and Bagh Lingampally.