An online petition demanding better roads in Hyderabad's Manikonda area is gaining traction, collecting 850 signatures in two weeks.
The petition on Change.org was started by Santosh Kiran GV, a Hyderabad resident, and is addressed to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Janardhan Reddy, Manikonda Sarpanch K. Narender Reddy, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao, and others.
Highlighting the condition of a 100-meter stretch on Pipeline road, Radial road in Manikonda, it asks if, "We should call these as roads at all?"
"This incomplete road/stretch has become a nightmare to everyone who commutes here, including pedestrians, school buses, cars, bikes, and ambulances, as there are few hospitals around," the petition reads.
"There were numerous cases of accidents and people suffering from trauma and backaches. Parents are afraid to send their kids out on bicycle. When I am walking on the left side of the road and there's no pavement, I fear that someone will hit me from behind," the petitioner wrote.
The petition also claims that open dumping takes place in the area, spelling trouble for nearly 1,000 families living in the vicinity.
"This road work was supposed to be completed a year ago and there is a huge disconnect or dispute between local authorities, the Gram Panchayat, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) and the contractors, which is resulting in tax paying citizens suffering," the petition adds.
A link to the petition can be found here.
Following the monsoon, several stretches of road in Hyderabad have been deteriorating.
Earlier this week, senior citizens in Secunderabad, frustrated with the GHMC not filling up potholes, took matters into their own hands.
Over 70 people from Sainikpuri, Kapra and nearby localities gathered to fill up potholes at the entrance of the Gough Road.
Seventy-six-year-old Gulshan Bamboat, who led the initiative, said, “It was a purely collective impulse. One day there was discussion on the WhatsApp community group and I proposed a shramadan for repair and then everyone agreed. I was also inspired by a 12-year-old boy, Ravi Teja, who voluntarily started repairing potholes after seeing a road mishap.”