BOTANICAL GARDEN ROAD DARK

The 1.5-km road leading to Botanical Garden, the only lung space near Kothaguda and Masjidbanda in Hitec City, does not have street lighting, which makes it risky for those going to the park for their morning walk.

The park which was built four years ago once saw over 800 visitors daily which has now fallen to about 400, a park official said. He attributed it to the lack of streetlighting.

“At 5 in the morning when the park opens there is no streetlight for morning walkers. We have many senior citizens and children coming in so it is a little unsafe,” said Mr Shoaib M, who mans the ticket counter at the 273-acre urban forest.

“There is no lighting or zebra crossing on the road. It is inconvenient as the traffic never slows for the joggers,” said Mr Maheshwara Reddy, a resident of Masjidbanda. He said this being the only park in vicinity, it was surprising that the road was ignored.

Mr N. Rajendra, in-charge plantation manager, said they had proposed the construction of a foot-over bridge to help pedestrians cross the road, which sees heavy traffic at most times, safely.

“We received many complains from the area,” said Mr V.S. Ramalingam, GHMC executive engineer. The municipality has sanctioned a `26-lakh project to install LED streetlighting along the road, he said.

The road is also being developed by the GHMC projects department to connect Kothaguda to Lingampally.