HYDERABAD: The construction of central medians along Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) corridors fail to take into account the plight of pedestrians crossing the road. While HMR officials say they are in consultation with the traffic police and are setting up zebra crossings at several locations, the traffic cops say that the locations for pedestrian crossings to be set up are yet to be finalised.
The central median works for the phase one of the metro rail are in full swing for its November opening. But at many locations along Sardar Patel road, Mettuguda, Taranka and Uppal, the existing zebra crossings have been blocked out by the medians. The public are left with little choice but to jump over the medians.
“This is the same difficulty people face while trying to cross the PV Narasimha Rao Express highway,” said Vinod K Kanumala, chief functionary at Indian Federation of Road Safety. “The issue arises due to the lack of coordination between various government departments. There is a need for various local government agencies to communicate and work together to identify and resolve such issues,” he added.
Official disconnect
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) engineers say, the responsibility of setting up zebra crossings along the HMR corridor rests with the HMRL. “GHMC has no role in it,” said an engineer.
“The pedestrian crossings are being set up only as per traffic police requirements to curb jay-walking,” said NVS Reddy, managing director of HMRL. The zebra crossings are being set up only at locations indicated by the traffic police have indicated, rest of the locations are being closed, he added.
However, the city traffic police are yet to finalise the locations to set up zebra lines. “There are about 2,500 metro pillars in Hyderabad and we have to submit a list to HMRL where the pedestrian crossings will be set up along the line. The list will be given to them,” said V Ravinder, joint commissioner of police, (Traffic) Hyderabad. “The location of the crossings will depend on the area as the zebra lines do not take up much space,” he added.
The median construction works have been progressing in quick pace without clearing the list from the traffic department. “The lack of coordination between the departments has put the life of pedestrians at risk,” said Kanumala.