Rains fail Nagole driving test centre

Hyderabad: The Nagole RTA driving test centre, said to be the best in the country with 12 tracks to test drivers, was inundated due to the heavy rain earlier this month and overflowing drains.

Tracks 6 to 12 were completely under water but the Road Transport Authority staff cleared the other tracks to hold driving tests.

An RTA staffer said the water had entered even in the office room. “Water overflowed from a nala from the north and rain water from the south,” he said.
Before residential colonies came up around the RTA office, it had never faced such a situation.

Back in 2011, officials proposed to install drainage lines to overcome waterlogging but the proposal got stuck in red tape. About 300 motorists take the driving test here every day, and the number goes up during holidays.

The Nagole RTA can conduct 600 tests a day, but is affected by a staff crunch.

The land belonged to the police, and, before 2002, was used to store seized vehicles. The initiatives of former RTA officials C.L.N. Gandhi and B. Venkateswarlu led to the government allocating the land to the RTA, which developed the driving test tracks over two years.

With greenery and an emphasis on cleanliness, the Nagole track was awarded by government and private organisations between 2005 and 2013.