Army blocks road widening works

Seven years after a portion of the landmark Diamond Point cafe building was demolished and hundreds of families voluntarily surrendered their lands after officials promised them with benefits of additional floor space index, neither the road has been widened nor the benefits have accrued the property owners till date.

The widening of the road from Masthan Café to Diamond Point has remained on paper and so is the case with the benefits promised to the building owners who surrendered their land for road widening.

The Secunderabad Cantonment Board has been sitting on a proposal from the past seven years to widen seven main roads in the cantonment limits. Traffic jams at Diamond Point junction near Sikh village is a daily spectacle. As if the travails of motorists from last seven years were not enough due to narrow corridor, the APTransco has dug up five feet-wide and six-feet deep trenches all along the Masthan caféDi a mond- Po i n t - S i k h Vi l l a g e - Ha s mat h p e t Monda Market road to lay underground cables, further narrowing down the carriage way and adding to the traffic woes.

“What is the point in surrendering our property and moving backwards to provide right of way for road widening. Normally, road widening is delayed due to problem in acquisition of private properties. But here is a case where civilians have surrendered their properties but the government authorities, in this case Army and crucial defence installations, have blocked the road development project.” Kanukula Krishna Reddy, owner of the building in which Diamond Café is located, told this correspondent.

Experts had recommended widening of the roads at least up to 120 feet as against the existing 30 to 40 feet narrow carriageway.