HYDERABAD: Taking a serious view of the deplorable state of roads in Hyderabad, the Telangana High Court on Tuesday took the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to task, asking how many decades it would need to repair the roads.The court, during the course of a hearing on a report submitted by GHMC on the status of roads, wondered why the civic body was taking so long even as people were losing lives because of potholes.
The court said GHMC should identify areas which are prone to water-logging and repair them much ahead of the monsoon. It is necessary that the GHMC staff should make a list of the nalas and stormwater drains that need to be attended to, to allow the free flow of floodwater. Hyderabad should be a role model for the entire State, the court said. Needless to say, if roads and other facilities are in proper shape, investors also would show interest, the HC said.
As soon as the court took up the case, GHMC officials appeared before the court and submitted a report as sought by the court in its previous hearing. The HC took up the case about a week ago after it came to its notice that a retired employee Gangadhar Tilak and his wife have been filling potholes in Hyderabad spending their retirement money. The court then said the GHMC should feel ashamed if someone else was doing their job, that too using his own money.
In the report, the GHMC said it had laid cement roads for a length of 6,000 km of the 9,013-km length of the roads. Its staff were filling potholes every day and special teams had been formed for taking up this work. The GHMC’s strategic road development plan was among the initiatives for putting in place a better road infrastructure. The court asked GHMC to submit a status report within two weeks on road repairs in Hyderabad.