Hyderabad: Kismatpur road caught in a muddy quagmire

Bandlaguda: Despite being known as a prime area with plush apartments in gated communities under newly formed Bandlaguda Jagir Municipal Corporation, roads are in a deplorable state. One among them is the Kismatpur stretch that turned completely into a quagmire giving hard time to regular commuters.

Filled with oversize potholes, this one km-long unmetalled road of 100 ft from Saraswathi Shishu Mandir to Kismatpur already gives a bumpy ride to the locals. The recent rain aggravated the problem as the entire stretch turned completely into a foot-deep pond. which made driving well-nigh difficult for commuters. Frequent incidents of vehicle-skating on road became common.

Just a few minutes away from the corporation office, the stretch connects Rajendranagar GHMC boundaries to Bandlaguda Jagir. It is dubbed as the main passage linking Bandlaguda Jagir and Kismatpur villages leading to Himayatsagar, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyder Shah Kote, Suncity, Narsingi and Manikonda.

The corporation was formed in 2019 by merging five major panchayats---Bandlaguda Jagir, Hyder Shah Kote, Peeram Cheruvu, Kismatpur and Himayatsagar. It now consists of 22 wards with 59,088 voters (30,562 men and 28,526 women). "Despite the fact that Kismatpur was merged into a corporation, fortune has not yet smiled on its miserable state in terms of proper roads.

People continue to face inconvenience while travelling in and out of the area. Most roads are unmetalled and filled with stones and presents a perfect picture of an underprivileged area," rued Harishwar Reddy, a community activist. "No proper representation of the area is the primary reason for the deplorable situation in Kismatpur, road-users, in general, and local people, in particular are regular victims.

The plight of the Kismatpur stretch – that turns into perilous route for commuters, says it all about the state of weak representation, apathy of leaders and lethargic attitude of officials, who have turned a nelson's eye towards the issue despite the road just a stone throw from the newly formed corporation," said Mohd Zaheeruddin of Rajendranagar and a regular road-user. Municipal Commissioner Venugopal Reddy did not respond to calls for comment on the issue.