Many roads are a mere 15-30 feet wide, which makes it difficult for vehicles to move smoothly, especially during peak hours
HYDERABAD: Commuters from the Old City continue to struggle to cope with traffic congestions due to the narrow and roads and lanes that are prevalent all across the region. Many roads are a mere 15-30 feet wide, which makes it difficult for vehicles to move smoothly, especially during peak hours.
This is more glaring in busy routes at Falaknuma, Charminar, Lal Darwaza and Purani Haveli, each of which is patronised heavily by tourists and shoppers.
In a welcome move, GHMC has initiated road widening projects across Old City. The plan includes widening the roads to 40, 60, 80 and 100 feet. While some road widening projects are in progress, the civic body is identifying other locations for road expansion.
Road widening projects that are in progress include Aramghar to Zoo park road, Shastripuram road, old Balapur road, Bandlaguda junction, Chanchalguda to Santoshnagar and old Chatrinaka police station to Uppuguda.
Additionally, service roads under the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) flyovers are also being widened to ease congestion.
The GHMC town planning department has started marking properties for acquisition, issuing notices to property owners and providing compensation as per the Land Acquisition Act 2013.
As for land acquisitions of properties that are in courts or are in family disputes, the corporation is filing the counter petitions in courts for acquiring land.
Following representations from local MLAs and corporators and in tune with the HMDA master plan, GHMC has identified more locations like Shastripuram junction to Enginebowli, Bengaluru highway to Shastripuram crossroads, Tulsinagar to Ghousenagar, Chandrayangutta to Barkas, Lucky Star Hotel to Hafeez Babanagar, Dabeerpura to Nagabowli, Habeebnagar to Hafeez Hotel, Dabeerpura flyover to Sheik Faiz Kaman, Yakutpura (Bada Bazaar) to Talabkatta (Bhavaninagar).
Some of them are GHMC H-CITI (Hyderabad City Innovative and Transformative Infrastructure) projects.
GHMC Charminar zone city planner M.A. Majeed said that road widening is necessary to manage the increasing traffic.
He said, “We take the consent of locals, marking the properties earmarked for acquisition and giving compensation before starting the works.”
Majeed explained, “Some roads widened decades ago are not serving the intended purpose. For instance, the Chanchalguda to Owaisi junction road was widened to 60 feet in 1995. It is now expanded to 100 feet. This road connects Srisailam highway and RGIA.”
According to GHMC officials, around 2,700 properties are being acquired for the 20 road widening projects which are currently in progress and for proposed projects.
While residents support the road works, some turn emotional about giving up ancestral property.
“This belongs to my forefathers. It is hard to leave but as it is for the development of Old City, we are giving land to the government”, said Mohammad Akthar, a local.
“Once widened, these roads will not only ease traffic flow but also boost property value,” said Abdul Khadeer.
