Hyderabad: Arterial road closure sparks traffic snarls

Falaknuma : In view of the ongoing repair work of Railway Over Bridge (RoB) at Falaknuma, the main connectivity to Chandrayangutta to Charminar, commuters are facing hardships. They demanded the authorities to speed up the works which started in the beginning of this month, to ensure the road access towards main City is restored.

The ongoing repair works have already turned the lanes and bylanes which link to the road into highly congestion points, severely affecting the movement inside the residential areas. "The bridge was closed in an unplanned manner by the civic body without giving a major alternate route for the commuters reaching the other side. The connectivity which is now provided is through bylanes, which are turned into a traffic chaos," said Mohammed Ahmed, a regular commuter.

On daily basis, a complete traffic jam can be noticed from Falaknuma to Bandlaguda, via Chandrayangutta, RoB to Chandrayangutta X road to Kandikalgate RoB via Tadlakunta and Gazi-e-Millat Colony, Hafez Baba Nagar and Barkas areas.

The authorities provided alternative route near the Temple in Chandrayangutta which is connected to a Taadlakunta and GM Chowni to reach Falaknuma and another at Quadri Chaman in Falaknuma which are small lanes. Moreover, owing to some ongoing civic works have further reduced the space for vehicles.

"Only two wheelers may pass easily, but 4-wheelers are unable to squeeze themselves through, due to which the roads are converted into a traffic chaos," said G Nayak, a resident of Falaknuma.

The situation to persist for next 6-months. "This is an unplanned road closure by the authorities stretching for 6 months. The traffic police and GHMC should have made alternate arrangements before closing this route.

Even the public representatives are silent over the issue. They should have instructed the concerned officers and ensure free flow, as around 2 lakh commuters pass this stretch," pointed Amjedullah Khan, MBT Spokesperson.

MLAs Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri (Yakutpura), Mohammed Moazam Khan (Bahadurpura) and corporators along with Traffic police and GHMC officers inspected the ongoing works last week. Pasha Quadri said that some land acquisition properties were pending to be demolished as part of road widening in the alternate route.

"Due to this, the routes are facing these traffic issues, I instructed the GHMC Charminar zone zonal commissioner as well as the town planning department to clear the flow of the route by demolishing the properties at the earliest.

As the time period of the project is 6 months and the public may be facing inconvenience for these months, I also instructed the concerned contractor to speed up the works by appointing more workers and complete the works before time," he said.