Hyderabad: A campaign on Facebook demanding the construction of a footpath from Kishanbagh crossroads to Pakeeza Hotel, has resulted in 20 complaints being filed in one day at the GHMC’s online grievance cell. The campaign gained popularity with several locals joining in and demanding the construction of a footpath. Recently, a similar Facebook movement forced the GHMC to open a public park in Raghava Colony in Banjara Hills.
Syed Ali Hussaini, a citizen moderating the campaign, said, “I submitted a request on May 4, 2014 requesting the GHMC to construct a footpath on the stretch from Kishan Bagh crossroads to Pakeeza Hotel. The complaint was assigned to M Venkateshwarlu, the assistant engineer of Circle. The complaint was closed on May 19, 2014 and the response stated that estimates are under process. We filed three more complaints, but they were all closed. The last one was closed, but it was mentioned that the complaint will be attended to.
This is why we thought we should take this up more seriously and file more complaints.” “The second complaint was forwarded to Veerabhadra Rao, the deputy executive engineer on June 4, 2014. He closed the complaint on June 12 and said that estimates are under preparation,” said Mr Ali.
Over 18 have filed complaints online and more than 75 people have responded on the Facebook page. They have also suggested that street vendors and hawkers can be shifted to the parallel bypass road for Rajendranagar. The campaign’s first stage is to get a footpath built and then next convert it to a vendor-free zone. “We will write back to the complaints in a day or two. A footpath will need two metres on both sides and the existing shops will start using it. We had previously widened the road from seven metres to 11 metres. This is not a maintenance complaint.
Initially, there was a plan for a road divider as well. But, we did not go ahead with the plan as it will become even more congested,” said Venkateshwarlu M., area assistant engineer, Circle 5, GHMC. P. Vishwanath, deputy commissioner, Circle 5, GHMC said, “We have to take care of the estimates, get the budget allocated, approval from the standing committee, designation of a special officer and many more processes. Only after all this will things materialise. But, we will overcome these problems and these grievances will be addressed soon.”
