Driving through Nallagandla a nightmare
Foundation stone laid 6 months ago, but roads still in a dilapidated state
Commuting on Nallagandla roads has become a huge problem for residents. It’s been about six months since minister K.T. Rama Rao laid the foundation stone for road improvement works but there has been little progress since.
The route from Aparna Towers to Nallagandla flyover is a bumpy ride on a kachcha road.
Residents allege that this has been the case over the past two years. Instead of improving it, the existing road was dug up and its condition has deteriorated due to rains.
Residents point out that road users have to endure the pain due to the delay caused by roads and buildings department which has taken up the restoration activity.
Mr Hridesh Gupta, a resident, said, “The roads in Nallagandla are a nightmare to drive on. Driving 2 km takes 40 minutes. The road was dug up and the other part of the road is filled with gravel. Serilingampally is the highest tax paying zone and we don’t have a good road. We are wondering why we even bought a house in this area.”
Several employees use the raod to go to Hitec City or BHEL side. There are numerous water logging points and big potholes have formed as a result of the recent rains.
On Wednesday and Thursday last week, many residents took to Twitter to complain about the pathetic situation of the road. The road work has been pending since 2016 and during every rainy season, commuters have to endure the trauma of bad roads.
Mr Vijay Ivaturi, a resident, filed Right to Information (RTI) asking for details about the work and is awaiting a response. He said, “I have filed a second RTI query about the road. The road expansion work was allocated in November 2016 and they ran into land acquisition issues. Officials had to shift utilities such as electric cables and an underground sump for which they dug up the road. By then monsoon started and they cannot lay the road. There has been an unplanned delay in this work due to lack of coordination among the departments.”
Officials point out that even though the process is in full swing, land acquisition couldn’t be completed as consent was not received from many owners. Yet, the expansion works in some areas began to cater to commuters.
From Nallagandla flyover to Vatinagulapally the main problem is land acquisition as nowhere in this entire stretch it has been cleared. The process began in January.
An R&B official said, “We have surveyed each home, but are facing difficulty in getting consent especially at Nallagandla. We started works in the available land and on one side we laid only for 500 metres.
Due to the rainy season, we took up only half side of road. Had the showers not come, we would have taken up the other side too. Within 10days of rain stopping the work will be done.”
The official also pointed out that every night workers were filling the road and clearing water logging points to ensure traffic part of the road is in motorable condition.