FoB in Old City: A bridge too far!

Hyderabad: Commuters from Phisal Banda have been risking their lives by travelling on the stretch towards Chandrayangutta, as the first-ever foot over bridge (FoB) work was stalled four months ago. The construction material is dumped on road which is also a national highway. Some pedestrians feel the project has been scrapped and left incomplete.

The South Zone GHMC commissioner made the announcement that the FoB at Hafez Baba Nagar will be opened to the public in the starting months of this year, but still, its construction has been left incomplete for more than four months.

Although the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department made an announcement on January 16, 2022, that, along with FoB at Hafez Baba Nagar, six more FoBs were going to come up in the southern part of the city, popularly known as the Old City of Hyderabad. But, till now the first FoB construction is on at a snail's pace.

A pedestrian, Mohammed Rafeeq said, "People of the Old City believe that the GHMC will never develop it like the western and the central parts of the city. After knowing that even the Old City roads will have FoBs we realised that we were wrong. Only steel blocks have been installed for the FoB, but not completed; while other six are yet to come up."

The Chandrayangutta constituency is one of the busiest areas of the Old City. Lakhs of people daily commute from here as the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is also nearby. With FoB material lying on road it is posing a severe threat to motorists. During the recent rain the construction site of the FoB got inundated and commuters, as well as pedestrians, had to face a lot of difficulties crossing the road.

When contacted the concerned Charminar zonal GHMC commissioner, failed to speak or give information on construction of FoBs. Shaik Afroz, a commuter said, "from early morning to late night, heavy vehicles pass through the road. Pedestrians also face threat, along with commuters, as there are hardly two U-turns.The stretch is too long with material of FoB dumped on the roadside the motorists are facing a lot of hardships to commute."

Several pedestrians complain that they are unable to cross the road. Some take risks by crossing the stretch in rush. They demanded the GHMC to immediately complete construction of all FoBs that were promised in the Old City.