Hyderabad: Top brass get a taste of city gridlock

Hyderabad: If angry ministers and MLAs who were caught in the virtual gridlock for several hours on the roads leading to Hitec City on Friday evening were endlessly calling up top police officers and wondering what went wrong with the traffic and the roads in just one downpour, some of the top bureaucrats were left fuming and could not do much except venting their anger at their subordinates, particularly the traffic police officials.

The lower-rung policemen posted on the roads found themselves in a ‘war zone’. Motorists were seen arguing with them and they in turn hurled the choicest of abuses back at them. At some places they were even seen pushing road users angrily.

For a change, it was not only the aam janata that suffered miserably due to the gridlock in the hotspots of Hyderabad. Politicos and bureaucrats who were looking forward to a pleasant Friday evening, too, got a taste of what it is like to get caught in a massive traffic jam which ostensibly was the result of poor planning and management of both the GHMC and the traffic police.

Traffic was gridlocked on all roads in Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Madhapur, Hitec City, Gachibowli and beyond in a gridlock for several hours on Friday evening following the downpour — this monsoon’s first rain — which ended up turning roads into rivers, bringing traffic to a standstill for several hours and the reliable Metro Rail services playing spoilsport.

Among those stranded was none other than Director-General of Police M. Mahendar Reddy.