City’s road woes continue

The repercussions of the road damage near Model House, Punjagutta became obvious as it started to affect the traffic of the entire City. Traffic police virtually engaged half of their personnel on the alternative routes, including several inspectors, sub-inspectors and men from various divisions. Walkie talkies in the North District were busy, where the higher officials coping with the situation regularly asked their cadre ‘not to panic’.

Personnel deployed

About 300 personnel from across traffic police stations of the North District were on the alternative routes and by-lanes between National Highway and Raj Bhavan road. The Raj Bhavan Road, suddenly became a arterial route for road users, providing an alternative between Khairtabad and Punjagutta. Commuters everywhere had to face a tough task while moving ahead.

The narrow lanes which were supposed to be short cuts connecting major roads were packed. Frustrated people resorted to continuous honking, making the task more tough for the traffic cops.

“It took more than an hour for me to travel from Khairtabad to Nagarjuna Circle,” says N Srikanth, a resident of Srinagar Colony.

Medical services were also badly hit on this stretch, as the road consists of one of the important hospitals, the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, besides NIMS. Being one of the important routes for City buses, taking a diversion was no less than a tedious job.

Traffic cops feel this is the biggest problem which cropped up in the recent years. Unlike the Fever Hospital incident which occurred two years ago, they feel this too will open up several interrelated problems.

According to officials, if the road is not opened to general public till Monday morning matters may become worse.

While on inspection, GHMC Commissioner M T Krishna Babu said that the over flowing sewage water into the storm water drains was a source of the problem. He stated that most of the sewage is entering the storm water drain due to the absence of a sewage network.

It has also been noticed that most of the commercial complexes, shops in the area are directly letting their sewage in the storm water drains.

The commissioner said that one side of the work has already been restored and the other side of the works are being taken up on priority basis, would be completed in a day or two. He directed the engineering officials and the concerned contractor to be vigil to complete the restoration works immediately and the work should be restored so that the road can be allowed for the free flow of traffic.

Mahesh Yadav, the area corporator, requested the commissioner to conduct a joint meeting with all connected departments like HMWW&SB, APCPDCL to have a proper coordination to solve this problem permanently.

R Dhan Singh, engineer-in-chief said that this is the old drain where most of the sewer lines have been merged and are not in a position to cope up with the existing flow of sewage and storm water causing this incident. He ensured to identify the problem and restore the works.

Working on a solution

While speaking to Postnoon, PVS Ramakrishna, deputy commissioner of police said that inspectors were engaged in almost all major junctions.

He said the situation could have improved but the rain played spoil sport, causing vehicles to come on roads simultaneously after rainfall recedes.

According to him, a separate contingent would take care of the problem in the night to guide lorries. He also said that the personnel were doubled in two days at choking points on Rajbhavan Road.

He expected the situation to improve on Sunday.

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Category: City, City News