The ‘other’ city in pain

May 14th, 2007

Secunderabad has got the tag of a being the ‘other’ city. While the state government and civic authorities have gone about sprucing up posh areas and IT parks, it forgot about Secunderabad, once a flourishing British cantonment.

Secunderabad has been primarily a residential part of the twin cities, with unique laid-back bungalows helped along by an
expansive green cover. But the rapid urbanisation has played havoc here with bungalows giving way to multistoried apartments and shopping complexes sprouting just about anywhere. This man-made disaster is due to the combined neglect of the municipal authorities, Cantonment Board and traffic police.

Traffic bottlenecks in Secunderabad are mainly at three points: CTO junction, Patny and YMCA. The two flyovers at CTO and Parade Grounds are of little help as they merely serve as cross-over points instead of distributing traffic into the feeder roads.

The flow of traffic interestingly is different in the mornings and evenings, as office-goers move at a snail’s pace in the mornings from Rasoolpura to Greenlands, Punjagutta and on to the new boom town, Madhapur. In the evening, the flow is in the reverse direction. And herein lies the root of the problem as traffic personnel seem to be unaware of this uni-directional flow. The traffic signals should be timed and synchronised according to this flow of traffic.

Another factor leading to the jams is the blocking of certain key roads by the army, ostensibly for security reasons. The Mornington Road connecting RTA office, Trimulgherry to Military Hospital could be used as an alternate route for motorists going to RK Puram, and Sainikpuri reducing the load. Presently, only army officials and civilians working in the army establishments are allowed to use the road.

Again, trying to understand traffic signals at Jubilee bus station requires high-end education as signals seem to work at cross purposes. Signals turn red, amber and green with no logic and road users are left a confused lot.

Further up, the road which connects Secunderabad Club to Safilguda, Malkjagiri and Neredmet, is a complete mess and traffic here moves at a snail’s pace. In this section, the stretch of the road from Secunderabad Club to Ghanshyam supermarket can test the bone density of even the toughest men and women.

The increasing number of fast food restaurants and factory outlets from Vikrampuri to Karkhana and on to Trimulgherry is also said to be a reason for traffic blocks. These outlets have used their cellars meant for parking for shops and customers are left to park their vehicles along the road.

An important stop like Karkhana has no bus bay and commuters take shelter in the Satyam office nearby. In fact the road at Lothkunta leading to the Presidential abode of Rashtrapathi Nilayam has no bus bays, and RTC buses bunch up in the middle of the road leading to massive jams from Lal Bazar to Alwal. The absence of traffic policemen at major traffic intersections is one of the main reasons for traffic chaos in the evenings.

Source: TOI(Hyderabad epaper)

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