The granite slab laying work around Charminar, which is a part of the Charminar Pedestrianisation Project, is causing massive traffic snarls. And the situation is likely to remain the same till March next year.
Commuters travelling along the Madina to Charminar and Shalibanda to Charminar stretches said it takes them anything between 15 and 25 minutes to travel roughly one k.m. This, despite the entry of autorickshaws being barred in the area during the day.
“The traffic is chock-a-block for several hours of the day because the pedestrianisation work is in progress. On weekends, it gets worse as there is a lot of tourist inflow to Charminar. Peak hours give us nightmares,” said Abdul Rafe, a resident of Noor Khan Bazaar.
Syed Waseem Ahmed, a regular visitor of the Old City, said “The traffic is so slow that it took me 20 minutes in my car to travel from the other side of Naya Pul to Charminar. Police do little to keep the hawkers in control,” he said.
When contacted, a senior Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation official said that coordination with traffic police is under way. “We along with the police are doing all that is in our capacity to regulate traffic. We will complete the stone slabs laying work latest by March,” he added.
