Hyderabad: Old city residents rue narrow roads, potholes

Hyderabad: Commuters in the old city blame narrow roads for traffic problems. They say that even the main approaching roads in the old city are much narrower and in bad condition.

Sangyapaga Sudarshan, from  Bahadurpura, said commuters in the old city are facing a lot of inconvenience every day as the main roads are damaged and full of potholes.

The flow of the tourists is still high due to the Charminar, the Salar Jung museum and the zoological park.

India’s largest bus station is in the old city but the government is not focusing on improving the conditions of the roads.

Mohammed Abdul Akram, of Sultan Shahi, said there is a need to increase the numbers of traffic signals.

Though GHMC authorities have widened many roads in the old city during the past three decades, there are bottlenecks in every direction, which lead to traffic congestion. A comprehensive master plan for the old city will end the problems.

Annamala Paramesh of Gowlipura said government authorities have utterly neglected the old city area due to lack of political will. We are battling potholed roads. He said roads are not suitable to handle the volume of traffic. The city planners should design roads keeping in mind the average number of commuters that use the stretch.

Kareem Ansari of Shaheen Nagar said there is a lack of coordination and cooperation between the traffic police and civic bodies. He said the bad condition of the roads in the old city is consequently creating problems for commuters.

In the old city, vehicles move inch by inch due to bottlenecks and narrowed roads.

Literally, to cover a kilometre’s distance will take more than half an hour. Roads in the old city have become a nightmare for commuters and pedestrians alike.