Road obstruction in Secunderabad causes loss of more than Rs 20 lakh, claims Twitterati

Hyderabad: Due to a fallen tree and pole blocking Gough Road in Hyderabad for 103 days, the narrowed carriageway had caused a direct loss of Rs 20 lakh on fuel alone. This claim was made by Pankaj Sethi, a Twitterati, after analysing the petrol consumption in regards to the travel on the route.

He explained, “An idling engine consumes roughly 0.6 litres/hour of displacement in the engine. A litre is 1000 cc, and assuming an average displacement of 150cc in two-wheeler engines, it consumes on average about 0.1 litres per hour of idling time.” The average four-wheeler, assuming with a 1500 cc engine (1.5 L), consumes about a litre per hour of idling time.

Taking the example of Harmony Chowk Junction on Gough Road-All Saints road, Secunderabad caters to about 30,000 vehicles per day from AOC Centre towards All Saints Road. It is a conservative estimate.

Let’s say 90% (27,000) of the vehicles are two-wheelers and the rest 10% (3,000) are four-wheelers, and the cycle time of the signal at Harmony Chowk Junction is three minutes. The extra time spent for idling by the 27,000 two-wheelers is 81,000 vehicle minutes or say 1,350 vehicle hours.

Now that each vehicle consumes about 0.1 litres of fuel every idling hour, 135 extra litres of fuel was wasted every day by two-wheelers idling three minutes at the signal. Similarly, for four-wheelers, it is about 150 vehicle hours. Therefore, 285 litres (at least) of fuel was being wasted per day at the junction via the extra idling due to the congestion caused by the fallen tree and pole.

At Rs 70 per litre on an average, the amount goes up to Rs 20,000 per day. Thus, more than Rs 20 lakh has been spent on fuel alone. The loss was paid for by consumers alongside the national exchequer because fuel is imported.

Pankaj mentioned that this figure doesn’t count the loss in productivity due to delays, the effect on physical health due to pollution, and to mental health due to irritation and tension. Thankfully, on December 15, members of Green Sainikpuri participated in removing the pole and tree from the Gough Road in Secunderabad Cantonment. The tree and pole had begun to obstruct the road ever since they fell during the heavy rains in early September this year.