Suffering in silence: Potholed Chandanagar-Ameenpur road claims lives; admin unmoved

Hyderabad: Beware! Next time you drive on a Chandanagar-Ameenpur road, you may experience body pain or joint dislocation. Thanks to potholes, the journey on the road is no less than a nightmare. And during a peak traffic hour, it might come close to a mini-roller coaster ride.

Venkat Arun, a resident of Ameenpur recalls the day two of his pregnant neighbors lost their babies while traveling on the Chandanagar-Ameenpur road. His friend RK Yadav, who works in a Pharma company in Gachibowli, recently underwent surgery for spinal disc replacement. Thanks to his daily commute to his office via the Chandanagar-Ameenpur road.

Venkat said it's very hard to take his ailing wife to the hospital during an emergency. "My wife suffers from epilepsy. When she gets a major attack, it nearly takes 40-50 minutes to reach the hospital. Whereas if the road work was properly completed, it would take just 20 minutes," said Venkat.

Thirty families each in Chandanagar and Ameenpur depend on this road for their daily commute. Interestingly, half of this road falls under GHMC jurisdiction and the remaining is under Ameenpur jurisdiction.

In 2017, it was proposed that the width of Chandanagar-Ameenpur road via Sridevi Theatre with will be extended to 150 ft from 60 ft. In the same year, a fund of Rs. 4 crore was also sanctioned by the GHMC for the project which included setting up a lighting system and constructing dividers. But even after five years of the proposal, no road work has been undertaken, the residents said. "Road is a basic requirement. Five years have passed and it is yet to take off," said Venkat.

Narrow road beside the culvert

Chandanagar- Ameenpur road also connects to Bolarum via Ameenpur and to Bachupally via Miyapur and Ameenpur. "It is an alternate approach road which can reduce the distance. If the people have to go from BHEL Lingampally to Bachupally via Miyapur it will be 17-18 km. If they take Ameenpur road, the distance will be around 12-13 km," pointed out RK Yadav.

People also take this road to reach Lingampally junction which is around 5 km away from Ameenpur.

JV Prashant, an IT company employee, urged the government to provide a basic facility to the residents. "At least do the patchwork of the potholes. When it rains heavily, these potholes get filled and at night, we don't even know how deep they are," said Prashant.

Residents also complain about the lack of a proper drainage system, street lights, and huge traffic in the area. "It takes 1 hour to cover one kilometer in the evenings because of the traffic jam," said Bobba Navatha Reddy, a resident of Chandanagar, also an ex-corporator of Chandanagar.

Navatha Reddy said as a corporator, she fought several times to get this roadwork completed. "I had fought a lot for the funds. We got it sanctioned in 2017. But nothing was done," she said.

She also alleged that TRS MLA of Serilingampally Arekapudi Gandhi was not interested in the project and that is the reason why it never progressed. Chandanagar falls in this assembly constituency.

"Around 15 of his followers' houses lie on the adjacent sides of this road. Hence the land acquisition was not conducted by the government. Instead, the MLA wrote a letter to the road authority saying it affects those families," she explained.

NewsMeter accessed this letter of TRS MLA Arekapudi Gandhi to the GHMC Commissioner. "I herewith forward the representation of Chandanagar old Bombay road, Welfare and Protection Committee (a committee of the affected families) in regard to the revision of the road widening plan from Chandanagar main road to Ameenpur via Sridevi Theater. The Committee has narrated facts to reconsider the road widening to an extent of 150 feet road from Chandanagar main road to Ameenpur via Sridevi theater and the same was proposed for 60 feet on old Bombay road earlier. The proposed road will affect nearly 400 families' livelihood and their dependents, who are earning on small business and daily wages at this location," he wrote.

When NewsMeter contacted Manjula Raghunath, the present corporator, she said that there was no delay in the project and that the works are progressing.

"Presently, the electrical poles are being shifted for road expansion. It is going to take 2 months to complete this. Everything is being completed phase-wise," said Manjula.

Residents said that no work is being carried out on this road now. They said that the culvert was not extended and the electric poles are also not yet been shifted. NewsMeter visited the road and did not find any work being carried out.