Hyderabad: Untarred road has residents up in arms

Hyderabad: Residents are raising their voices against civic issues at Kondapur and Hitec City.

A busy stretch of untarred road near the Botanical Garden signal at Whitefields is causing congestion and the lack of pavements and zebra crossings in and around Hitec City is becoming hazardous, they said.

A fence at the Botanical Garden signal was removed about three months ago to broaden the busy road, but the stretch remains untarred, which is causing a major traffic issue, said Shakti Mohanty of Kondapur.

“Hundreds of trees were cut to widen the road to eight lanes about three years ago. But each side of the road merges into two lanes at the signal, which causes a massive bottleneck,” Mr Mohanty said.

Compounding the problem is the stretch that is untarred. The land is privately owned and disputed, but there has to be a temporary solution till the court case clears, he added.

“The untarred and uneven stretch is slowing down traffic and adding to congestion.”

The issue has been tweeted to authorities by several others in the past week, with another user stating: “Un-patched road at Heritage Fresh junction, Botanical Garden road, causing traffic issues at peak hours. Kindly take the required action (sic).”

J. Vidyasagar of ICICI Bank, who commutes to the Financial District from Nizampet for work, said he avoids the road due to the issue.

He said, “The road is untarred, and also lacks a pavement, proper lightening and zebra crossing. The under-construction flyover from Kondapur Police Lines to the Botanical Garden signal is adding to the chaos.”

The lack of footpaths at the signal and near Ikea and Trident Hotel in Hitec City is also a major cause for concern.

Mr Mohanty added, “The pavements near Cyber Towers have been shaved down from three feet to about one-and-a-half feet. There are no pavements near Ikea either.

“I have approached authorities over the matter several times but nothing has been done. These are the prime locations of the city but people are having to risk their lives and limbs while walking.”

Mr Vidyasagar said, “It has to be a multi-agency coordinated effort to solve these issues. Stakeholders from all agencies such as the corporation, traffic police, water board and metro rail, need to come under one umbrella to solve it together. It cannot be handled in isolation.”

Speaking about the problem of the untarred road, Hari Chandana IAS, Zonal Commissioner, West Zone Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, said, “The land is private property and is under dispute. There was a fence which was creating a hazard so we had it removed. But we cannot tar the road as we did not get consent for land acquisition. We cannot do anything till the court case clears.”

GHMC director vigilance Vishwajit Kambati added: “The footpaths might have been affected due to developmental work going on there. However, we will ensure that footpaths are rebuilt in such cases and that too with standard dimensions and designs.