HYDERABAD: Traffic moves at a snail’s pace on the ring road around the Charminar Pedestrianisation Project between Darulshifa, Shalibanda, Moosa Bowli and City College. Encroachments have further shrunk the narrow road space and traffic crawls on the only available stretch to reach the older parts of the city. The large volume of traffic that used to go past Charminar is now diverted to the narrow road.
“The Mir Alam Mandi road is chaotic with traders encroaching the road space and customers parking their motorcycles. The traffic police has put up road dividers but it is not working,” said Moghalpura resident Anzer Suleiman. The stretch between Mir Alam Mandi and Etebar Chowk is choked. “At the Etebar Chowk junction half-a-dozen policemen try to control the traffic but there is no respite. Mechanics and shop-owners have encroached upon the road,” said Mr K. Anil Goud, a resident of Gowlipura.
The situation is similar at the Panch Mohalla junction where taking a turn is risky. “Drivers park their autorickshaws on one side and pedestrians try to squeeze through between vehicles. If one is not careful, one can bump into a pedestrian,” said Ms Asiya Naaz, a regular road user. The roads at Akbar Function Hall, Hari Bowli and Khilwat have been occupied. “The New Shalibanda Road in the worst hit. The GHMC and traffic police should clear the encroachments as being done across the city,” said a road user. When contacted, a senior traffic official said that the GHMC was asked to clear the encroachments and they would be removing it soon. Any obstacle on the road would be cleared, he said.
