Lulu Mall’s opening paralyses traffic in Kukatpally, Balanagar; social media calls for patience

Hyderabad: For the past three days, the streets of Kukatpally, Balanagar, and the Y junction have been experiencing severe gridlock, thanks to the city’s denizens flocking to visit the newly inaugurated Lulu Mall.

The Forum Mall flyover, a crucial route towards JNTU, has been clogged with traffic up to the Malaysian Township, leaving commuters baffled and frustrated.

The traffic snarls aren’t confined to one location; they have a cascading effect that affects various U-turns along the Miyapur-Kukatpally stretch. Remedial measures, such as the Remedy U-turn and the JNTU U-turn, are also choked due to the influx of vehicles going to and from the mall. The Hydernagar U-turn has also fallen victim to this domino effect, compounding the problem and leading to further congestion.

Commuters detail shocking travel delays

In the midst of this turmoil, heartfelt pleas from concerned Hyderabadis echoed in the city’s collective consciousness, also called social media.

“Dear fellow Hyderabadi’s, LULU Mall is going to stay here, it is not here for a week or two. Please wait till the rush subsides. You are creating a lot of troubles for people on emergencies who are getting stuck in mad traffic due to the people visiting it. Please wait and let the initial rush settle down, then you can visit the mall leisurely, (sic)” tweeted a concerned city resident.

The individual recounted their experience managing traffic near the Hydernagar U-turn, where ambulances, school buses, and college buses got caught in the gridlock.

Residents are sharing harrowing tales of their daily commute, with another individual recounting a journey that took 1.5 hours from JNTU Flyover to Rythu Bazar. Another mentioned a mind-boggling delay, starting at the Hi-Tech City railway station flyover at 4:45 pm and reaching Royal Sports at 7 pm.

Traffic jams bring flashbacks of IKEA’s horror

Comparisons are being drawn to the traffic nightmare that engulfed the city when IKEA first arrived in Hyderabad at Raidurgam metro. It seems that history is repeating itself, with massive footfalls at the new shopping destination causing traffic chaos. However, as the IKEA episode taught us, the initial frenzy does subside over time.

Prasanth Mamidala, a Hyderabad resident working at the Netcracker company, urged people to be considerate. He said, “It’s taking 1 hour just to cross 2 to 3 km. Kukatpally, Pragathi Nagar, Nizampet - everything is blocked because of this.”

Srinivas Bellam, an admin at a software company and part of the SCSC Traffic Volunteering group, added, “I would like to urge people of Hyderabad to wait till the rush subsides to visit the mall and also would request others to go for alternative routes. Although they may be a bit far, you would have a better chance of reaching the destination faster and more peacefully.”