HYDERABAD: Navigating the stretch from East Marredpally to Secunderabad is a nightmare for commuters, especially during peak hours. Traffic congestions at the Shenoy Nursing Home junction, the ICICI Bank ATM, and the church near the Eashwari Bai Statue Circle are a daily occurrence. The road only has a single lane on either side and the traffic police’s attempts to get it widened have been unsuccessful.
N. Ramanathan, a senior citizen from New Vayupuri Colony in East Marredpally, has written several letters to the GHMC asking for the road to be widened by moving the compound wall of the church by a few metres so that the movement of traffic is eased.
“Traffic is blocked because the road gets narrower near the church. There is a free left for vehicles going towards Secunderabad Railway Station. But vehicles going towards Paradise, Begumpet and Panjagutta block the narrow road and leave no space for vehicles to take the free left. Even ambulances coming from Sainikpuri, RK Puram and East Marredpally and headed towards Gandhi Hospital, or other hospitals in Secunderabad, get stuck in the traffic,” he says.
Shekhar Singh, a retired travel consultant from East Marredpally, has been living in the area for nearly six decades. He says that traffic conditions have deteriorated rapidly over the past couple of years.
“I drop my grandchildren at a school near Secunderabad every day. Earlier, the journey from our home in East Marredpally would take five to ten minutes. Now it takes 25 minutes every day,” he says.
K. Chandrashekar Reddy, the Traffic Inspector of West Marredpally, says that 1.4 lakh vehicles move between AOC circle, East Marredpally, and Secunderabad every day.
“The situation is not helped by the narrowness of the road. If an RTC bus stops for few minutes to pick up passengers, all the traffic behind it has to stop. The situation gets worse in the evenings, especially at the Shenoy Nursing Home Junction. We deploy two to three traffic personnel during peak hours to control the traffic. We have written letters to the GHMC asking for some land in the sports ground so that the bus stop can be moved a few meters away. However, we have not received any response from them yet,” Mr Reddy says.
He adds that letters have already been submitted to the concerned authorities regarding the bottleneck near the church.
