When will Telangana government wake up to traffic mess at RK Puram flyover?

NewsMeter has always been at the forefront of highlighting people's problems, celebrating the common person's success, and encouraging people to live their dreams. We are trying to become a bridge between the government and the people. To take this initiative forward, we are introducing a citizen journalism concept. This story is part of the initiative.

Lakhs of people take the RK Puram flyover to commute between Sainik Puri, A.S Rao Nagar, and ECIL. Traffic has significantly increased since the construction of RK Puram Railway ROB- Road Over Bridge, two decades ago.

Commuters experience life-threatening accidents, huge traffic jams, and street fighting every day. The slightest traffic jam due to vehicle breakdown or tyre flattening causes massive gridlock.

An RTI application was filed with SCR in Jan 2020 to find out if there was any scope to open the Railway crossing gate 252 underneath the flyover. However, the Railways revealed that the RK Puram flyover was constructed in 2001. After the construction of the ROB, the railway level crossing gates no 252 cannot be reopened. They said ROB has already been constructed and is operational.

In 2010, Malkajgiri Congress MLA Akula Rajender wrote to Railways requesting to conduct a joint inspection. A joint inspection was conducted by the GHMC and SCR's engineering wing on June 30, 2011, as disclosed in the RTI reply.

In his letter to the Railways, Akula Rajender said the existing width of ROB (RK Puram flyover) is not capable of withstanding huge traffic pressure. He requested the department to widen the existing ROB to 4 lanes. One can imagine how traffic conditions might have turned out after 11 years.

Later a joint inspection was conducted. A feasibility report was submitted to the CBE /SCR office on Sep 7, 2011, by the Railways.Perhaps, the work was supposed to begin on deposit terms. The entire cost of the work was to be borne by the undivided AP state government.

On Nov 1, 2011, Railways communicated to the GHMC that the ROB work costs Rs 7.35 crore. They requested to pay 2% i.e. Rs 14.70 lakhs for drawings and other initial works.

However, the Hyderabad division of the Railways said: "There is no communication from the state government till date on proceeding with the ROB construction. Neither the deposits were made by the state government".

An RTI was also filed with the GHMC to know about the regular maintenance cost on the RK Puram flyover and whether there is an expansion plan to ease the traffic condition.

GHMC responded in the affirmative. "Yes, the proposal of construction of two (2) lane ROB parallel to existing ROB at the RK Puram gate is included in the Comprehensive Development of Road from ECIL X Roads to Trimulgherry X Roads under SRDP Phase 4. The detailed project report for the corridor from ECIL X roads to Trimulgherry is under finalization. Further, the data pertaining to the maintenance is NIL," it said.

GHMC has also revealed that they have requested the SCR to furnish a feasibility report for taking up the proposal of a two-lane ROB parallel to the existing ROB. GHMC said they are waiting for a feasibility report. This has turned out to be false and baseless information by the GHMC, as per the RTI.

Recently, a netizen tweeted to Minister for Municipal Admin & Urban Dev KT Rama Rao requesting for the parallel ROB at the RK Puram, The Minister asked the Hyderabad Mayor and the GHMC Commissioner to submit a report ASAP.

Unfortunately, neither the Mayor nor the GHMC Commissioner has responded to the tweet. This shows that the Municipal administration is fully aware of the fact. Funds have not been sanctioned for the Comprehensive Development of Road from ECIL X Roads to Trimulgherry X Roads under SRDP Phase 4.

It is perhaps shocking that KTR was asking for a report about RK Puram parallel ROB. This indicates that he is unaware of the endless struggle faced by the public at Malkajgiri.

The state government and the local MLA must answer the following questions.

1) Why there are no infrastructure and investment plans for Malkajgiri?

2) How long will the people of Malkajgiri have to wait to see the pending projects completed?

3) Why aren't these delayed projects discussed in the Assembly?

4) Being the largest constituency in India, why does it receive only Rs 993 crore from Rs 66000 crore spent in the GHMC limits?

TRS government has lost the 2019 general elections. It was a major blow to the party that chest thumped on the development agenda. If the TRS government continues to ignore the long-pending projects in the Malkajgiri constituency, the people will decide their fate in the 2023 polls. It is high time for the people to shun Beer and Biryani, and Cash for the vote. It will only deprive them of rightful development and snatch away job opportunities, according to retired IPS officer Dr. RS Praveen Kumar.

Therefore, I urge KTR to expeditiously take up the pending works of Road from ECIL X to Trimulgherry X under SRDP Phase 4. I also urge him to take up the issue of the ROB project at Vaipainagar Neredmet with the Railways. The project is also pending the revised GAD approval with the SCR and the GHMC.

The state government must equally focus on the development in every district of Telangana. Being the largest constituency in India, the Medchal-Malkajgiri district must be the primary focus of investment and infrastructure development to decentralize Hyderabad's growth.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not represent the views of NewsMeter. We have not changed, added, or omitted anything to the text. NewsMeter is not responsible for the accuracy of the facts and the content of external links included in the article.