Fund crunch hits RoBs, RuBs in Hyderabad's northeast

Hyderabad: The inconvenience of waiting for more than an hour at railway crossings, especially in the City's northeastern part, seems to have no end as construction of Railway-over-bridges (RoBs)/Road-under-bridges (RuBs) are yet to see the light of the day.

The railways had proposed to construct RoBs and RuBs, but that seems to be present only on paper as the joint inspection planned by railways and State government is yet to take place. Social activists and commuters, however, have started to raise their voice against the difficulty endured by them.

Locals pointed that for the past one decade, 52 RoBs projects are pending including LC 249 at Turkapally, LC 255 at RK Puram, LC gate 250 at Bolarum, Vajpainagar RuB and many more.

The construction works of these RoBs and RuBs were sanctioned long back and had sought a 50 per cent share from the Telangana government, but due to the State government's negligence there is a lack of clarity on such constructions, ultimately distressing the commuters.

Federation of New Bolarum colonies president A Murali Krishna said, "The RoB construction at LC 249 - Turkapally and LC gate 250, Bolarum are pending for many years, a joint inspection was planned two years back at LC gate 250- Bolarum, but so far no inspection has taken place. The situation over here is becoming worse day by day. A huge traffic jam can be seen daily, especially during peak hours. Whenever we raise our voice on social media, only then the concerned officials respond that the matter is being notified to the higher officials, however, there has been no progress."

Social activist Robin Zaccheus, said, "Pending construction activities of RoBs and RuBs have seen no progress because the State government is least bothered and is yet to release the funds, whereas the Railway Board is ready. This delay is vexing commuters on this stretch. In spite of highlighting the issues through RTIs several times, the work has not taken off."

"We are struggling to commute from LC 255, RK Puram, as every 30 minutes, the railway gates close and open only for the next 10-15 minutes, only to be closed again, this is also leading to a lot of confusion. Once an RoB gets constructed over here, it will then make the lives of thousands of people less stressful as there will no traffic congestion," said Ramakanth, a resident of RK Puram.