Hyderabad: The traffic police has proposed to construct skywalks, foot-over-bridges (FoBs) and to remove junctions and provide U-turns at several locations in the city.
The plans have been stridently challenged by other departments.
Apparently, the traffic police asked the line departments, including the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL), to construct the foot-over-bridges and skywalks without even conducting a comprehensive study.
Both the nodal agencies claimed that the proposals made by the traffic police would not be viable and that the existing ones had failed to pedestrians. Constructing new ones would be an absolute waste of public money.
The departments on Saturday participated in the convergence meeting headed by GHMC commissioner M. Dana Kishore. It was during this meeting that the traffic police proposed to construct a skywalk near Jubilee Hills Check Post claiming heavy pedestrian crossing near the junction.
In reaction, HMRL officials said that they had constructed skywalks for pedestrians at Panjagutta and Paradise Metro Rail stations.
Apart from the Ameerpet interchange which itself serves as a foot-over-bridge, they have been constructing the 250-metre T-shaped skywalk costing `8 crore.
The facility will start from the concourse level of the station and extend to Mythrivanam bus stop and split into two arms, with each arm landing on either side of the road.
While one arm has been designed to land at the open place just after Mythrivanam complex, the other arm will land close to the outlets on the other side of the road.
Authorities claimed that the proposal made by the traffic police was unscientific and that the HMRL had conducted a study on it. They said that the skywalk would cost around `10 crore and in light of the footfall at Jubilee Hills Check Post station, the project proposed by the traffic police would not be viable.
The traffic police proposed to construct FoBs on the Metro corridors even though Metro Rail stations serve the purpose.
A senior official who attended the meeting said, “The corporation has planned nine FoBs, which have been receiving a lukewarm response. Although we managed to set up facilities for pedestrians at Kukatpally Housing Board bus stop, Miyapur crossroads and NSL Divyasri, Raidurg, the others could not be completed. Works is underway at Greenlands, Allwyn Crossroads, Forum Mall, KPHB, Manjeera Mall, and RS Brothers, Ameerpet.”
He said the work was slowed down by the electricity department which did not shift cables, poles, and other utilities.
“The traffic police proposal was rejected since the FoB projects were a big failure,” the official said. RTC officials said the closure of crossroads at Tarnaka, RTC crossroads, the IT corridors and other locations, had cost the corporation heavily in the form of excess fuel consumption.
They said forcing the buses to take U-turns was slowing down traffic, and asked the traffic police to open the junctions.
