Hyderabad: Finally, Uddamgadda ROB work to get cracking soon

Rajendranagar: The much-awaited Road Over Bridge (ROB) works at Uddamgadda railway halt under Rajendranagar are all set to begin soon as the officials of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and Railway department have pulled up their socks to execute the project four years after it was first mooted in 2017.

To address the issue of traffic congestion at the railway halt at Uddamgadda area near Shastripuram under Mailardevpally, the GHMC had proposed an ROB in 2017 with an estimated cost of Rs 71 crore. Further, the resolution was included in 2018-19 financial year.

However, no works were started since it was mooted. The corona-induced lockdowns and their subsequent impact played a spoilsport in the execution of the project. Now with everything falling back to normalcy, the officials have decided to carryout works.

Further, they have decided to impose traffic curbs around the railway halt near Mughal Colony which shares boundaries with Shastripuram and Mailardevpally as the works may last for one-and-a-half year. "Though we have asked to stop movement of traffic near the railway halt from November 1, it will take time to ground the works as railway authorities are yet to come up with their part of clearances for the project.

The entire project might take at least one-and-a-half year. Meanwhile, we are steadily moving ahead with the land acquisition process and have pulled down 85 out of the 128 structures getting affected under the proposed project," informed Datupanth, Superintending Engineer (Project), GHMC. Earlier this month, ACP Shamshabad (Traffic) Viswa Prasad along with Shyam Sunder Reddy, CI, Traffic, Rajendranagar and other officials visited the railway halt and studied the possibilities of imposing restrictions. Meanwhile, the railway halt continues to pose a grave inconvenience to passengers with the traffic getting stalled for a distance of kilometre whenever the rails pass.

"While passengers are made to wait for almost 15-20 minutes at the railway halt before a train passes, they are forced to wait for another 15-20 minutes to come out of traffic congestion at the railway halt area," informed Syed Shoukat Ali, a community activist, adding that the proposed curbs at the halt area for taking up ROB works would compound the woes of passengers who wish to take Falaknuma route where bridge works are in progress for a long time. "It would be more helpful for passengers if the GHMC and traffic police provide a feasible passage for motorists close to the railway halt area," suggested Shoukat Ali.