Hyderabad: Talks on road widening run into rough weather

Rajendranagar : In order to ensure peaceful possession of the lands attached to religious institutions for road widening from Aram Ghar to Shamshabad stretch, a meeting of all the stakeholders was convened recently at the office of the Revenue Divisional Officer, Rajendranagar to discuss the issue in length.

Chaired by District Collector Rangareddy Amoy Kumar, the meeting witnessed the presence of officials from Endowment, Wakf Board, Revenue Department and National Highway of Authority besides the members of management committees of religious institutions.

As the road widening works reached close to an end on the stretch from Aram Ghar to Shamshabad on the National Highway No.44, the authorities are now on to finish the leftover task at isolated spots on the stretch which were not touched so far due to its religious nature.

According to officials, there are around 13 structures of religious nature coming under the road widening from Aram Ghar to Shamshabad stretch that includes temples (small and big) at at least three locations besides a Chilla and a dargah under Rajendranagar limits.

"Though most of the road widening works were completed on both sides of the stretch, few structures like temples, chilla and dargah still have not yet touched keeping open the scope of deliberation with the stakeholders before moving ahead with the plan. While some structures would suffer partially the other would have to be razed completely," informed an official on the condition of anonymity.

During the meeting, all the stakeholders have raised their concerns with the officials while MLA T Prakash Goud has also given a patient hearing to the people. While the MLA sought some more time to discuss the issue with the temple and mosque committee members before communicating the same to the officials, the Rangareddy Collector has decided to convene the next meeting on September 3, to resume deliberation on the issue and put the process on track.

Earlier to ascertain the situation on the road, the local MLA Rajendranagar T Prakash Goud along with RDO Chandrakala, MRO Chandrashakher and Tahsildar Shamshabad Janardhan visited the spots where the religious structures existed. A few months later the MLA also held a meeting with temple committee members at his camp office to discuss the matter along with the officials.

"As most of the project work has been completed, the officials are now committed to finish the remaining task within next two months and the same will be decided in a proposed next meeting scheduled to be held on September 3 with all the stakeholders," the official informed.