Drivers dread Trimulgherry-Suchitra stretch

Hyderabad: Travelling on clogged, congested roads from Trimulgherry, Alwal, to Suchitra Junction and other areas is a daily drudgery for residents, with the element of risk added, as they have to share the two-lane road along with buses, trucks and other heavy vehicles.

This, experts say, is due to unplanned growth of the city and failure of the officials in not improving the road infrastructure to keep up with the phenomenal spurt in traffic in these areas.

“The road must be segregated to cater for the kind of traffic the city witnesses. The road should provide space for all road-users. Police are deciding on the road infrastructure while architects design the road, which does not match the needs of actual users of the road. Similarly, almost all speed-breakers in the city are not as per norms laid down by the Indian Road Congress,” Malcolm Wolfe of Roadkraft told Deccan Chronicle.

This, perhaps, aptly explains the rise in number of road accidents along the stretches of city roads, including the one involving a pedestrian who was hit by a 19-year-old biker on the road near Trimulgherry. Significantly, Trimulgherry traffic police, who have been tasked with maintaining traffic in these areas, find it an arduous task. They say there is no traffic sense among people who travel along these roads.

“There are many accidents taking place on these roads owing to immense traffic, especially trucks that are proceeding to the Rajiv Rahadari. These trucks weave in from left to right or right to left as per their whims. Controlling traffic in such circumstances is difficult,” maintained a traffic police official on condition of anonymity.

There were plans of building a skyway from Jubilee Bus Station to Shameerpet for easing traffic flow but nothing has happened yet.

Mr K. Pandu Rangam Yadav, a ward member of Secunderabad Cantonment Board, says “The plan has been shelved, as the Army is unwilling to provide land. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had asked for 100 acres so that four-lane roads could be laid. But the army refused to budge on the issue. People have no other go but struggle on these ‘skinny’ roads every day,” the ward member remarked.

Officials have sought land near the Suchitra Junction. But this proposal too has not moved forward, he added.

Meanwhile, people, coming from Sanikpuri, add to the traffic woes as they often opt for the wrong route to not only enter as well as exit the Trimulgherry petrol pump.