Civic body given land to develop alternative routes
A view of the AOC road with the notice board. (Photo: DC)
Hyderabad: The nightly restriction on civilian traffic through the AOC area will not be revoked. Instead, the the Union ministry of defence has given the green signal to hand over Army land to the GHMC for the development of alternative routes to connect Safilguda with Secunderabad.
Once these routes are developed, civilian vehicles may be totally banned on AOC roads. This was decided on Monday by ministry officials, who had kept the GHMC’s proposal on alternative routes on hold for several months. The proposal has now been cleared.
The ministry will also deploy top Army officials along with a survey team to finalise the total allotment of Army land to the GHMC and other issues after Independence Day. Speaking to DC, MLC N. Ramchander Rao said, “Earlier, when the Swachh Hyderabad team visited Delhi along with the Deputy Chief Minister, defence minister Manohar Parrikar was intimated about the hardships that the residents would face if the Army extended the restrictions on civilian traffic on AOC roads. The minister asked them to revisit the capital in July to discuss the issue, however, it was postponed to August.” On August 6, a delegation comprising Malkajgiri MP Ch Malla Reddy, Mr Ramchander Rao, Cantonment MLA G. Sayanna along with members of the resident welfare association met Mr Parrikar.
During the meeting, the Army briefed the minister on the the security and intelligence threat to the defence establishments and the residents spoke about their hardship.
After a detailed discussion, the ministry gave a green signal to the state government to develop alternative routes by duly allotting certain defence lands.
“According to the Army, the ministry of defence has agreed to transfer the land required to develop alternative roads for the four roads which are passing through AOC. A team from Delhi will finalise the alternative road plan in consultation with the local residents, the GHMC commissioner, state government and city police officials,” the MLC said.
Civic body identifies main routes:
Trying to find alternative routes once the Army closes the AOC roads, the GHMC, after an inspection, has proposed a 100 ft road from AOC to Safilguda Railway gate, and 60 feet road from Willington to Trimulgherry Hanuman temple and 100 feet road from AOC, EMC to R.K. Puram road overbridge stretch of 2 km.
The Army has also suggested the use of the vacant land under Survey No. 292 (B-2 land), giving one-way access to commuters from RK Puram, Sainikpuri and areas up to Radhika Junction. The Trimulgherry junction will be modified to facilitate smooth flow of traffic.
Also, alternative en routes at Lallaguda Gate (from Anand Bagh), Gandhi Nagar and Safilguda (Hanumanpet) have been identified once the Army imposes a complete ban. A survey conducted by the Defense reveled that every day 1.9 lakh commuters use the AOC roads, especially the AOC swimming pool road. The Safilguda gate toward East Marredpally witnesses the highest civilian movement.
The survey results have been submitted to the GHMC, which will decide on the alternative plans before the Army goes ahead with the next phase of restriction, which has not been announced yet. The road near Tukaramgate should be widened or made one way for the smooth flow of additional traffic from Safilguda area towards Marredpally, the Army has suggested.
Presently, the available routes are not sufficient to take the load of traffic density and if not developed, it would lead to chaos. “The areas of alternative routes are congested with houses and it is not possible to widen the roads from 30 ft to 100 ft,” stated GHMC authorities. Earlier, the GHMC commissioner had requested the Army to provide about 60 -100 ft area from the compound wall of the Cantonment area depending on the density of the traffic and it would take at least 18 months for laying roads from the date of handing over the place by the Army.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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