To say it is put on the backburner is an understatement. Reality is that it is off the priority list. For all practical purposes, the Charminar Pedestrianisation Project (CPP) exists only on paper. On ground, it is to be seen only in bits and patches - here and there.
The pet project of the then Chief Minister of the combined State, N. Chandrababu Naidu, to decongest the precincts around Charminar and to achieve a quality urban environment remains a pipedream. So is the idea of making the monument accessible, safe, secure and aesthetic. Today, Charminar and its surroundings are as chaotic as ever. If there is any visible change, it is the absence of the RTC fleet. Otherwise, one still runs the risk of getting knocked down by a speeding vehicle while appreciating Hyderabad’s most popular icon. All this after a decade-and-a-half of implementation of the CPP.
And thereby hangs a tale. The CPP will surely go down in history as the most long drawn project. Even 15 years after it was launched, it is nowhere near completion. Worse, officials connected with the project do not even want to hazard a guess when it will see the light of the day. “The CPP has lost focus. It is certainly not in our priority list,” remarked a senior GHMC officer.
The same lame duck excuses are bandied around for the delay – court cases, writ petitions, property acquisition and festivals. In reality, shifting priorities and lack of inter-departmental coordination have driven the last nail in the coffin. Town Planning, Estate Section and Engineering division of GHMC keep passing the buck on one another. Who cares if the project cost shoots up from a modest Rs. 139 crore in 2000.
Till now, the Corporation has done road widening of 2.5 km on the Inner Ring Road (IRR) and 5 km on the Outer Ring Road (ORR). Still some 20 structures on the IRR are caught in litigation and 30 on the ORR. Some of them are religious structures. “Unless these bottlenecks are cleared, police are reluctant to divert traffic fully on the ORR,” says R. Dhan Singh, Chief Engineer, GHMC.
For the last few days, plying of auto-rickshaws around Charminar is restricted from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. But the entire vehicular traffic has to be stopped completely in the buffer zone for the project to succeed. “Though there are some bottlenecks, traffic can be diverted on the ORR. It’s for the police to take a decision,” says K. Srinivas Rao, Additional Commissioner, in-charge of CPP.
The GHMC has spent an estimated Rs. 100 crore till date on CPP related civil works and yet no road around the monument is fully pedestrianised. The stretch from Gulzar Houz to Charminar has granite flooring only on one side while the work on the other side is held up due to litigation. Grey and pink coloured granite flooring is laid on Sardar Mahal road, but on the Laad Bazar road and Makkah Masjid - Charminar stretch it remains to be done. Paving in the buffer zone close to Charminar awaits the Archaeological Survey of India nod.
Uniform signage, one of the key components of CPP, is achieved to a great extent. But regular monitoring is required as some shopkeepers tend to put their own signboards. Parking is another thing which is not resolved. A multi-level parking lot proposed in the premises of the old pension payment office at Moti Galli is caught in the tender stage. Another parking lot planned at the Charminar bus stop also hangs fire, although the RTC has shifted its depot.
There are many loose ends that need to be tied up. But in the absence of political and executive will, the project simply drags on.
