Hyderabad: Foul Water, Traffic Jams Plague Oliphant Bridge

 Hyderabad: Two-wheeler riders and pedestrians using the age-old Oliphant Bridge at Secunderabad are greeted with a sprinkle of foul water caused by the continuous seepage from the tracks above it. The problem intensifies in the rainy season.

Worse, frequent traffic jams at the Chilakguda and Rathifile crossroads on either side strand the two-wheeler under the bridge, where water continuously falls on them.

Some commuters have even suspected the structure's safety because of large-scale oozing out of the water from the roof of the road-under bridge. Sridevi, teacher in a convent school in Lal Bazaar, rues that the pedestrian passage on either side of Oliphant Bridge is hardly two feet wide. When someone comes in the opposite direction, pedestrians are forced to move to a side and rub against the drenched side walls.

Due to the insufficient number of toilets, many men use the nearby open areas close to the bridge to relieve themselves and it makes life more miserable for passersby in the area.

Rajsekhar, employee of a private firm, catches the city bus towards the Bhoiguda side to reach his residence in Nacharam. "We feel very bad about passing through the road under the bridge though it takes less than half a minute to cross it. The Railways must carry out the repairs and they should not escape citing the busy movement of trains on tracks," he said.