White topping in Hyderabad: These roads could become traffic nightmares in the coming months

A total of 300 km of roads in the city were to be white topped but delays have led to the project adding to traffic in the city.
White topping in Hyderabad: These roads could become traffic nightmares in the coming months
White topping in Hyderabad: These roads could become traffic nightmares in the coming months
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Ten key roads in Hyderabad have newly been proposed for white topping, which expected to lead to increased traffic congestion in the months ahead. The roads include OU Engineering College, KBR Park Road, Jedimetla to Kukatpally, Barkas to Nadargul road, Miralam to Himayathsagar road, Alwal temple road, Kompally to Bolarum Railway station road, Miryalaguda to Neredmet crossroads.

Traffic congestions due to the frequent delays in the white topping works are common where the work is in progress. Take for example the white topping work at Bazar Ghat X road that connects Lakdikapul to Dhoolpet. The white topping works on the road has been ongoing for over a year, so far only 1.2 km stretch of the road is complete, 5 km still remain to be white top.

The delay in the work has affected business establishments and more importantly, the movement of ambulances to Nilourfer hospital for children.

Waiting for better roads

For an average Hyderabadi, bad roads are nothing new. But to get better roads, especially the white-topped roads, one will have to wait until the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao clears a file that has been pending with him for five months.

The task of white topping 300 km of roads in Hyderabad rests with the Hyderabad Road Development Corporation limited (HRDCL), but according to a Times of India report, Rs 6,000 crore required for executing the project is stuck at the Chief Ministers office, pending clearance.

The HRDCL in the past one and half year could only complete white topping of 10 km or roads in the city.

Some of the roads that were part of the initial HRDCL white topping project where the works are ongoing and face frequent traffic jams in the city are: Liberty (Ambedkar statue)- Basheerbagh-ABIDS (2.05 km), Durgam Cheruvu-JNTU 7.09 km), Sri Nagar Colony road (3.32 km), KPHB Phase-1 road (2.30 km), Osmania University to Secundrabad railway station via Seethaphalmandi (5.8 km).

“HRDCL was given a mandate to give a facelift to roads maintained by the roads and buildings department with white-topping in a phased manner. Infact, all the roads came under the wing of HRDCL in 2017. Apart from these roads, we have decided to give facelift to several roads in GHMC and its peripheral areas. For this, we require Rs 6,000 crore and the file pertaining to it has been sent to the CMO through municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) wing. We are waiting for sanctioning of the funds,” a senior official in HRDCL told Senior Reporter Sunil Mungra with the Times of India.

The official cited the Model Code of Conduct enforced before the assembly elections as the reason why the file was pending in the CMO for over 5 months.

The work can only begin if the file gets cleared, however, it might suffer another three months delay once monsoon begins.

In 2017, the  HRDCL initiated white topping of 58 km of roads, comprising of 22 roads within Greater Hyderabad. On completion, the roads are slated to have stormwater drains, footpaths, utility ducts, sewer lines, paved shoulders and marking. The work that started in May was supposed to be done before that year's monsoon but got delayed then due to delay in the release of Rs 600 crore for this part of the project, reported Deccan Chronicle.

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