Hyderabad: SNDP work at Begumpet throws motorists into a tizzy

Hyderabad: The traffic police were left red-faced on Friday, as the number of men deployed to control traffic on the Begumpet stretch was unable to manage it moving from Secunderabad to Begumpet and vice-versa. The top brass of the traffic wing shied away from providing any other alternate route (except one provided from Wesley College to Sindhi Colony roads) to commuters even while mentioning that motorists may take any alternate route of their choice if they wish to avoid traffic jam.

AV Ranganath, Joint Commissioner of Police (traffic), said, "Though we have stopped heavy vehicles from entering the Begumpet diversion areas, still traffic was jammed. In such a scenario, the public is requested to take alternate routes to reach their destination because the alternate route provided by us could not accommodate such huge flow of vehicles. It is better to avoid the road for the next 45 days till the SNDP work is completed. It needs to be completed on priority; if anyone is taking the route then they may land up in serious traffic jams or congestions."

Motorists travelling on the Begumpet stretch from Secunderabad or from Begumpet towards Secunderabad had to face lot of difficulties due to the ongoing Strategic Nala Development Programme (SNDP) work near the nala at Karachi Bakery, Rasooplura.

Uday Kumar, a software engineer working in an IT company at Hi-Tech City, said, "The traffic police and the GHMC do not have any idea about picking up development work.

What was the need for them to select the month of April when the heat is high and the sun is scorching on our heads. In such a scenario the departments expect us to wait in traffic for hours. The policy planning for development work has gone for a toss; such planning is not at all citizen- friendly."

Though the traffic police had mentioned the SNDP work and carried out a trial on Thursday, yet the traffic on the main stretch was thrown out of gear. On Thursday the traffic was choked till Habsiguda for commuters travelling from Secunderabad to Punjagutta for those moving from Banjara Hills. An officer of the traffic wing, on condition of anonymity, said, "for the trial run we had deployed more than 40 personnel at multiple junctions on the entire stretch, but still traffic could not be managed.

We were supposed to submit our report to higher-ups based on field experience; we submitted the report stating that motorists had to face severe traffic jams due to the nala work. Despite we highlighting the traffic problems the higher ups have taken the decision to continue the work for 45 days."