Hyderabad, now potholes capital of India: Congress

Hyderabad: The Congress party on Wednesday strongly condemned the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government for the deteriorating condition of roads in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

"Due to continuous neglect, Hyderabad has now become a potholes capital of India. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) top officials have admitted that there were more than 4,000 potholes on city roads," Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) official spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin said while addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday.

Nizamuddin said the GHMC could not get away by blaming the rainfall for potholes on city roads. "If a road is unable to withstand a few millimetres of normal rainfall, then it is constructed using sub-standard material," he said.

The Congress leader recalled '100 days action plan' announced on February 18, 2016, by former Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Minister and TRS working president K T Rama Rao.

"Rama Rao had made several promises and none of them have been fulfilled even after 1,265 days. He had also promised to pay Rs 1,000 to people who show one pothole on city roads. Today, Rama Rao can change his offer to pay Rs 1,000 for any road which is free from potholes," Syed Nizamuddin said.

He said the GHMC has identified 27 critical, 116 major, 133 minor and 32 other water logging places. This clearly means that almost all roads will turn into pools whenever it rains. Instead of finding a permanent solution for water logging, GHCM is wasting tax-payers' money on temporary solutions.

Further, he said as many 13,509 families in 101 localities of 16 Mandals are vulnerable to heavy rains. But nothing has been done by the government to find a permanent solution for them. "People of Hyderabad had given TRS a huge mandate in GHMC elections. TRS had won more than 100 out of 150 seats, but it did nothing to improve the condition," he alleged.

He said they have personally visited almost all 50 locations where GHMC has claimed to have constructed or developed bus bays as part of 100 days action plan. At many places, either there are no bus bays or old bus stops have been showed in the GHMC list as new ones.