Hyderabad: The Koti main road is one of the busiest stretches in the city. On one side of the footpaths are second-hand book stalls, shops selling ladies’ items. On the other side is an ENT hospital and the SBI main branch. Fruit vendors and street hawkers selling handkerchiefs, fake sunglasses and luggage bags occupy the road space.
Pedestrians scampering across the road which is dodging traffic is a common sight on this busy stretch. A subway was inaugurated 26 years ago, in 1992, for the citizens to cross over safely but it is hardly being used. Eleven years ago some book stores which were on the pavement adjacent to the Koti Women’s College were shifted to the subway.
Speaking to this newspaper, a bookshop owner, Mr Mohammed Ilyas Khan, said, “My father had filed petitions in the High Court and Supreme Court fighting for the allotment of space for bookstalls. The case went on for seven years. Then came the High Court order directing the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) to allot land for our book shops.”
There were 104 shop owners. The erstwhile MCH showed them four places to shift from the pavement.
The subway was one of them and a total of 60 members opted to shift to the subway, added Mr Ilyas Khan.
There are less than 10 bookshops in the subway now. Mr Srinivas, one of the bookshop owners, said, “It’s been six years since we have shifted here. But most people don’t have any clue about this. We stand at the entrance of the subway waiting for the customers and show them the way to our shops.”
After some years of the inauguration the subways became a home for drug peddlers, rag pickers and beggars and a hub for illegal activities as the municipal staff failed to maintain it.
Women are scared to use the subway as it does not have lighting.
Sultan Bazaar traffic inspector G. Shankar Raju said, “When I took charge, the subway was filled with garbage. With the help of municipal authorities, we cleaned the trash and installed 12 tubelights, eight CCTV cameras and a few fire extinguishers.”
Prof. Lakshman Rao of the transportation engineering of JNTU-H said, “There were some design problems in the subway with the ventilation and lightning. People are not using it because of an insecure feeling. Apart from that, poor maintenance has added to it. By addressing all the problems we can make people use the subways. Subways are one of the safest ways to cross the roads.”
Mr Shankar Raju said, “We have installed some signboards requesting the public to use the subway. We are requesting the law and order police to allot a personal for the security of the people who were using the subways.”
