Road expansion still a far cry in Old City

Hyderabad: Will the development work in the Old City be completed after been taken up by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)? This question has been raised in minds of the people residing in the Old City as the works have been moving at a snail's pace and people are waiting since decades to see a developed Old City. Several development projects were announced and were inaugurated years back, but there is less interest been taken to complete the projects. Especially the road expansion works in the southern part remains adequate.

The issue of development works as per requirement in the Old city is nothing new.

The main roads, sub-roads, by-lanes across the southern part of the city still remains decades old. The opposition parties blame the ruling party AIMIM for not providing infrastructure as compared to the other parts of the city. However, each year, the AIMIM MLAs and the party's floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi raised the issue of development of the Old city but nothing has changed in the ground reality.

In the ongoing current budget session, Akbaruddin raised the issues of development works in the Old City which has been pending for decades, and has been raised several times on the Floor of the House and directly blameed the ruling government for neglecting to preserve the city's old-world charm and further growth.

The city is expanding and rapidly growing but the growth in Old city remains concise. Several roads and other infrastructure projects are finished on time in other parts of the city, but road expansions works in Old city are at a standstill.

Akbaruddin pointed out that the road widening works which were sanctioned in 1980's is still pending.

The road-widening project at Himmatpura-Fateh Darwaza-Doodh Bowli of 2.5 km stretch which began in 2017 is still incomplete.

A total of 170 properties were acquired and demolished for the expansion but are not yet expanded. Social activists alleged that the road was to expand upto 80-feet however, but due to the negligence of officials, it has been reduced to 71-feet due to encroachments, said Mohammed Ahmed, an activist at Old city.

Similarly, the road expansion at Darulshifa-MirAlamMandi-Sultan Shahi remains pending. Even after a decade, only the property markings were done and no further progress has been seen in the project. However, the commuters who regularly commute on the route continue to silently endure the painstaking journey.

Another major road widening at Dhobighat-Rein Bazar-Yakutpura railway station- Dabeerpura railway station via Naga Bowli another work starting from Shaik Faiz Kaman in Yakutpura to Jabbar Hotel near Dabeerpura flyover with acquiring 361 properties is still pending and no works were taken up.

One of the oldest projects in Old city of about 4.5 km stretch Charminar-Shalibanda-Aliabad-Shamsheergunj to Falaknuma sanctioned in 2006 is yet to be completed.

The last time works were done in the year 2012 till Aliabad. During these years, only 30-40 per cent of widening works were done and around 100 properties are yet to be demolished.

Old city residents alleged that GHMC city mayor, GHMC commissioner, or any other higher officials did not visited the Old city in recent times to inspect the pending developmental projects.