Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Wednesday directed all stakeholder departments and officials to come up with a comprehensive plan to streamline traffic movement and resolve frequent snarls on roads in Greater Hyderabad limits. He also called on the officials to take into consideration the future requirements, given Hyderabad is a fast-growing global city.
As part of short-term measures, Revanth Reddy asked the police and GHMC to coordinate and plan for ground-level traffic management on priority.
Reviewing traffic management and control in Hyderabad at the Secretariat, the Chief Minister suggested officials hire experts and consultants to prepare studies on the city’s traffic condition and needs.
While the officials informed the Chief Minister that there was not sufficient personnel to meet increasing ground demand due to an increase in vehicular traffic, Revanth Reddy directed them to recruit and appoint the necessary number of Home Guards within three months of formulating a plan.
“The new recruits will be given advanced training. In the meantime, the Home Guards working in different departments will be brought to the traffic department for immediate use of their services,” the Chief Minister said.
Revanth Reddy called for law and order police personnel also to be deployed to regulate traffic, at least during the peak hours, with the meeting deciding on upgrading the traffic police stations in the tri-commissionerate area to appoint the necessary staff.
Directing the police not to rely only on automatic traffic systems, the Chief Minister said personnel must be deployed at all major junctions and high-traffic zones. He suggested the top cops send SIs and constables on two-wheeler traffic interceptors for better regulation of traffic.
Emphasizing the need to expand all main roads and key junctions to meet the vehicle volume, the Chief Minister asked officials to conduct feasibility studies on the construction of subways, underpasses and surface ways, on the lines of the LB Nagar junction.
Revanth Reddy asked police officers of the Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda police commissionerates and the municipal zonal commissioners to coordinate for traffic control and hold a review at least once a month to take appropriate measures.
The meeting also saw a discussion of parking problems, with the Chief Minister calling for the construction of multi-level car parks at key locations to ensure more space for vehicles to pass through. He also said incentives would be given to those who volunteer to construct such car parks on private and government land. He directed officials to come up with a parking policy, with all modalities, in this regard.
Revanth Reddy also sought re-examination of the criteria to allocate space for roads, parks and other infrastructure while the HMDA issues layout permissions. He suggested officials take note of best practices in other Indian cities and other countries to develop wide roads.
The Chief Minister instructed officials to consider the traffic aspect of the area concerned while giving permissions for multi-storied buildings.
Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, DGP Ravi Gupta, CMO secretary Seshadri, MA&UD principal secretary Dana Kishore, GHMC commissioner Ronald Rose, CMO secretary Shanwaz Qasim, additional DG (Intelligence) Shivdhar Reddy, Hyderabad police commissioner Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy, Cyberabad police commissioner Avinash Mohanty, Rachakonda police commissioner G. Sudheer Babu, traffic DCPs and other officials took part in the meeting.
