Hyderabad: Commuters livid over electric poles in the middle of roads

Hyderabad: Even as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) sanctioned an amount of Rs 60 lakh to the TSSPDCL towards shifting of electric poles from Himmatpura to Fateh Darwaza as part of road-widening works two years ago, the TSSPDCL failed to do the same causing inconvenience to the commuters.

The free flow of vehicular traffic is obstructed by the electric poles and transformers left behind on the carriageway after road widening works. The failure of the electricity department to shift the poles and the transformers is testing the patience of motorists who are already suffering due to bad roads and traffic congestion.

The road-widening works have been going on at Himmatpura to Fateh Darwaza stretch for close to five years. Though the works near the stretches were completed two years ago, the shifting of electric poles has been pending. The area has witnessed a population expansion in the last decade and the vehicular movement too increased.

Commuters say that the poles have become hindrance for movement of vehicles, including cars and heavy vehicles. Motorists complained that officials had also failed to solve the problem of overhead hanging cables. The severed cables hang dangerously on the roads and the officials had done nothing to remove them, they claimed.

"What is the point in widening the road by leaving the electric poles in the middle of the road? The entire exercise becomes useless," opined Akhlaq Ansari, a regular commuter.

When Mohammed Ahmed, a social activist, tweeted about the issue to Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL), the organisation asked him to contact their local officers and provided him with the details. "However, when I contacted the officials, there was no response," said Ahmed, adding that it has been nearly two years since the civic body had sanctioned Rs 60 lakh for the works. But it is said that the delay was due to non-release of the sanctioned amount, he said. Repeated attempts to contact the local official went unanswered.