Hyderabad: Bridge road closure bugs commuters

Hyderabad: The only and narrow interconnecting road, which is considered as a time-saving shortcut from Jalpally to Mailardevpally in Rajendranagar, has yet again been closed by the authorities putting the road users coming from Kattedan, Shamshabad and Mehdipatnam areas to great hardships.

The 2.5-km-long stretch, from Desi Dhaba to Jalpally Kaman, has been closed with the Jalpally lake bridge on the route inundated due to overflowing of Jalpally lake following the recent rains. Stating that the bridge area had already claimed two lives last year, the authorities closed it again a few days ago to avoid such incidents.

Though the stretch has become a time-saving passage for lakhs of motorists from far-flung areas, the gravel-ridden unmetalled road filled with potholes has failed to draw authorities attention. Instead of making the road a more convenient passage for commuters, the authorities have recently closed it with heavy boulders much to the annoyance of road users who are now forced to travel a route of 2.5 km to 3 km road just to reach Pahadishareef and from there travel another few kilometres to reach other areas.

"Thousands of road users are put to suffer every day due to closure of Jalpally bridge road. The authorities could have made it a better passage as the route serves thousands of motorists who find it as a more feasible shortcut to reach multiple destinations. However, no such measures to expand and metal the road have been taken for a long," rued Syed Raof, a resident of Jalpally.

In February, the Jalpally authorities informed that the bridge road widening works would be taken up soon at a cost of Rs 1.15 crore after the proposal was cleared by the municipal council. However, it has been learnt that the proposal slipped from the hands of Jalpally municipality and landed in Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) hands, which kept it on the backburner.

"Though the Jalpally bridge road issue was taken up by the Jalpally council earlier this year, the matter was wrapped under a jumbo proposal later covering a few other road proposals costing around Rs 7.5 crore. The HMDA authorities are deliberating on the issue since then and are yet to call tenders for the works. Hence, the road widening works are pending," informed Abdallah Sadi, chairman, Jalpally municipality.

TRAVEL ANGS…

♥ The 2.5-km-long stretch closed due to inundation of Jalpally bridge

♥ With this, road users are forced to travel a few kilometres more to reach their destination

♥ Though the Jalpally municipality decides to take up road widening works, the proposal slips into the hands of HMDA, which is yet to take a call on commencement of works