Hyderabad: Hyderabadis reporting for work on Monday morning were in for a rude shock. Across the city, at several locations, many found themselves stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The traffic was largely caused by shortage of TSRTC buses and the reopening of schools and colleges after prolonged Dasara vacations.
The heaviest traffic was reported on the Secund-erabad-Panjagutta stretch, where commutes got extended by as much as two hours in some cases.
Bikers were seen resting against cars for some reprieve. Commuters tweeted that the nine-km-long stretch took more than an hour to cover, and they were all in the dark as to why this was happening. Sai Kumar, commuting from A.S. Rao Nagar to Ameerpet, said he had seen such traffic only during heavy rains.
The jam here was the result of protests by Congress leaders, who had tried to lay siege to the CM’s residence, Pragathi Bhavan, near Begumpet. Heavy security was deploy-ed along the road. As a result, traffic crawled at an excruciatingly slow pace.
Murali, a techie in Hitec City, said he left his Neredmet home at 9.30 am. “I was stuck between Paradise and Panjagutta for nearly two hours. It took me another 45 minutes to get to my office,” he said. The traffic, coupled with the shortage of TSRTC buses on the road, meant waiting times at bus stops on this stretch got even longer. One Twitter user complained that he had been stuck at Rasoolpura waiting more than an hour for a bus.
The Metro offered little solace. Cabins of trains running on this stretch were packed to the brim, with commuters jostling for space and bodies crushed into the steel walls.
To make things worse, the Begumpet Metro station was closed down by officials due to ‘security reasons’. Trains did not stop at the station. Keerthi was stuck at both Khairatabad and Road No. 2, Banjara Hills, during her commute to her office in Jubilee Hills. Ranvir Deep from Himayatnagar said he was stuck at Mehdipatnam for nearly an hour. He got to his office in Raidurgam only after another 30 minutes. Many others reported they were upset with having to swipe in late at work, that too on a Monday morning.
Traffic from Panjagutta to Kukatpully too was affected. This stretch is almost always crowded due to highway traffic, and the city traffic only made things worse.
Things were just as bad in other parts of the city as well. Swetha, a resident of Pragathinagar near Kukatpally, said it took her three hours to reach her office in Gachibowli. She tried to derive some humour from her ordeal: “I listened to nine songs with a view of Malaysian Township (near Forum Mall) in my window. I moved only a few metres in this time.”
