Kukatpally, no place for pedestrians

Kukatpally: Being the busiest junctions of the city pedestrians and motorists in Kukatpally find difficulty in travelling or walking on footpaths as they are occupied by vendors. More than half of the road is occupied by these vendors, which lead to lack of space for the people travelling by this junction. 

Hawkers selling on the footpath cause traffic chaos as people halt their vehicles on the road to purchase fruits and other items. Sharing the plight of passers-by, P Surya, a pedestrian said, “It is giving tough time to us to walk beside the road. The hawkers are occupying footpaths and we are forced to walk on the road which is sometimes risky especially during peak hours of traffic.”

Meanwhile, Mohsin Raza, a motorist added, “Traffic in this area has always been an issue in a long run and with vendors occupying the footpaths, the congestion increased. This is causing a lot of problems to the commuters.” S Venkatesh an auto driver said, “We hardly have space to park our vehicle as the footpath space is occupied by vendors. When we do not have customers we need to go find a place where there are no stalls on the roadside to take a break.”      

Throwing light on the situation, Afshan Jabeen, Professor of JNTUH, Kukatpally said, “The road from Moosapet to Kukatpally JNTUH is abuzz with vehicles the entire week. Encroachment on this stretch shrinks the space available for vehicular movement. Roadside vendors generally occupy a significant portion of the road making it difficult for vehicles and pedestrians.” “Traffic police and GHMC officials need to do something to stop this encroachment in order to ease the traffic movement on the stretch,” she added.