HYDERABAD: Days after the tragic death of three people on the Nizampet Radial Road, at least 30 residential associations in the area staged a rasta roko on Sunday, demanding that the GHMC and R&B departments repair and expand the dilapidated road on war footing. On Friday, three people were mowed down by a college bus on the said road, just outside the Vertex Sadguru apartment.
The locals are of the opinion that the narrow road, that caters to multiple big establishments, had played a role in the accident. According to them, the Radial Road on which the accident took place was too narrow, measuring just about 40-60 feet, as opposed to the planned 100 feet. The road is also ridden with potholes and causes a bulk of traffic hassles in the area. “It takes up to one hour to cross a 3-km stretch. This is also contributing to the frequent accidents,” said Ratna Gopal, a resident.
It may be mentioned that the Radial Road is the only main road connecting JNTU to the Outer Ring Road (ORR). It also has multiple residential complexes in the area, up to 12 schools and 4 major colleges. As many as 30 residential associations in the vicinity had sent their representations to various authorities on the potential danger of the situation, but to no avail. “It’s a simple matter. The road is just too narrow to cater to such a dense residential and commercial area. There are many schools, colleges and other institutions that ply their private buses on this stretch and that makes it more congested,” added Ratna Gopal.
Who’s responsible?
Officials say, the main issue is that both GHMC and R&B are responsible for area maintenance. “The accident happened due to rash driving and not exactly because of road width. We have passed a proposal to transfer this road to GHMC. We are also spending over `1 cr for maintenance. But due to Mission Bhagiratha, we had to put it on hold,” noted an engineer at R&B.