Want to develop a spondilitis condition?
Then drive through this stretch – JNTU to Chandanagar on the Mumbai National Highway. It is not a road, it is a test track build for thoroughly evaluating the Land Rover All terrain and Multi Purpose vehicles before a crazy African Jungle expedition.
Overall, the quality of roads in Hyderabad has deteriorated very badly. In my opinion, from around early 90’s to a few years back Hyderabad had the best roads for a city in India. Now it is going back to the horrible 80’s. Though I was a small kid I could not help but notice that every time Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi visited Hyderabad, the roads they traveled on would be recarpeted (even if it was the third time that year). While the rest of the roads continued to be neglected and badly potholed.
In the last 3-4 months, some roads are being re-laid (maybe because the elections are getting closer). However, this is very adhoc and not need based. Roads in Hyderabad seem to be classified into 2 kinds – VIP roads for the ‘masters’ and I guess the rest are for the ‘slaves’. The slaves have to travel on the badly potholed roads for committing the crime of paying taxes to fill in the coffers of the government run by the VIPs.
This can be best seen in Panjagutta. The road from Begumpet to Road No. 1 and 3 Banjara Hills is well carpetted. The Raj Bhavan road is also very good. However, Panjagutta to Saradhi Studios is badly potholed. I have been watching the steady deterioration of this road for the past 2 years.
The “prized jewel” (worst patch of road) of GHMC is a small stretch of road underneath the flyover at Panjagutta X Roads. Since the Kukatpally- Dilsuknagar is the lifeline road of the city through which about 10 lakh people travel everyday. There must be some very “intelligent” reason known only to the city administrators for not properly maintaining this road (a full six months after the flyover is completed).
If this trend continues it will not be surprise if it takes 4 hours to travel from Panjagutta to Shamshabad airport. As I painfully went through 2 kms of obstacle race on the JNTU to Chandanagar road, I could not help but thinking. GHMC is not able to maintain the current roads in the city. How will they manage once the city fully expands into Greater Hyderabad! Think about that!
Recommended Reading:
Hyderabad – No longer the best city in India