Hyderabad: Pedestrian life in danger

Hyderabad: The Secunderabad railway station, which witness lakhs of footfalls a day, is facing problems due to traffic congestion. In addition to the narrow roads, the space is filled with the street vendors and hawkers and the footpaths have been encroached upon.

Although shopowners were booked under section 402 of GHMC act or 38 (b), case under which encroachers are fined Rs 300 for using footpaths as commercial spaces or extension of their establishments, nothing has been changed on the ground, said one of the traffic officials. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation was planning to clear the footpath from Rathifile to Alpha again.

All the buses coming from the Rathifile bus stand take a ‘U’ turn near the station. R. Satyanarayana Raju, Mahankali traffic inspector, said, “As there is very less space, we need to use it very carefully. We planned the entry and exit of buses from a small place. We had already laid cement blocks to separate pedestrian walkway from the main road.”

B.V. Subba Rao, a commuter who travels daily in the same route, said, “If we closely observe the station road, it is mainly used by pedestrians but there is no single pedestrian bridge or  under bridge to cross the road. The roads have became narrow because of encroachments.”

The TSRTC came up with many plans to decongest the roads near the station, as it creates most of the congestion, but everything remained on papers only and nothing has been implemented on the ground yet. 

The TSRTC was planning to a construct bus bay at Chilkalguda Rotary for the buses coming from Kache-guda and LB Nagar by regulating the traffic to the Rathifile bus stand soon, Raju said. 

“The skyway  construction was also  underway at Rathifile bus stand so that people who want to travel to Kukatpally can directly reach  Secunderabad metro station through the skyway, which can reduce 30 per cent of foot fall at the station road, said Raju.