Companies continue to dig up Hyderabad roads

Hyderabad: The city's road connectivity looks like a body after post-mortem, read a tweet by an angry commuter.

The ban on road digging from June 1 is not followed either on main roads or in interior roads. Digging has begun on Rashtrapati road, Secunderabad Railway station, Madhapur - Opposite Shilparamam, Moosapet Y junction, Kondapur, Malakpet, Padmarao Nagar and Kavadiguda main road.

None of these is emergency digging. L&T is laying cables for the CCTV camera initiative across important junctions. Private telecom companies are laying cables too.

Angry with the condition of roads, Ms S. R.  Agula said, " No point in lodging complaints; digging up roads for laying pipelines is unavoidable. But the work has been moving at a snail's pace. This clearly shows the lethargic attitude of concerned officials and contractors. Who is responsible for this? Even after spending crores of rupees, the end result is just unsatisfactory. Whose money is this? Is money being spent from someone's pocket?"

"The main road to Secunderabad railway station is in the most pathetic state imaginable. The cars are getting stuck in the potholes. I saw an auto almost flip in some of those potholes," narrates Mr Keerthi Reddy.

Municipal Commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy had issued orders on May 29 banning GHMC from permitting  any agency to dig up roads from June 1 onwards. Only the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) has been exempted from this ban because of ongoing key pipeline work in various parts of the twin cities. But the locations identified by this newspaper have nothing to do with the metro water board. In the recent past, a criminal case was booked against L&T for keeping a trench open at Yousufguda but no action was taken it.