Hours before the midnight on Monday, when the historic Oliphenta rail overbridge was closed for traffic to facilitate construction of the Hyderabad Metro Rail bridge over the railway line at Secunderabad, officials – traffic, municipal and railways – kept their fingers crossed on the possible impact of the closure of the vents on the commuters.
Senior officers including Joint Commissioner of police – traffic V. Ravinder, Deputy Commissioner L.S. Chouhan, North Zone Commissioner – Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation J. Shankaraiah, Deputy Commissioner T. Ravikumar and their support staff were on the road and spent a couple of hours near the area walking around the Rathifile bus station circle to try and understand the likely flow of traffic from Tuesday onwards.
The sheer number of vehicles that go under the Oliphenta bridge every single day are certainly mind-boggling. Consider this: buses of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) make a whopping 22,000 trips under it, apart from other vehicles ranging from the lighter ones to the heavy trucks, belonging to various government departments, that range into a few thousands.
But the real big numbers involve the private vehicles – from the two wheelers, auto-rickshaws, cars – estimated to be in scores, using the vents to move across the city for office, educational institutions, towards the railway stations, bus stands, etc. With the Secunderabad railway station having a footfall of five lakh every day, one can understand the anxiety of the officials concerned given that section would be hit the most.
Traffic Jt. Commisioner Mr. Ravinder was informed about the traffic movement plan that would be in place from Monday midnight till August 22. The diversions have been planned so as to cause the least possible inconvenience to the citizens. The endeavour was to facilitate the movement of the 1,150-tonne steel block of the metro rail bridge that will tower over the existing railway line. It will be placed over the two pillars built on either side of the Oliphenta bridge; it is a key bridge that actually connects Secunderabad with Hyderabad.
At least 150 personnel of the Traffic police would be on duty between 12 to 16 hours a day during this fortnight. “It will be tough but with the active cooperation of the police and railway authorities and of course of the road users themselves, we are confident of getting this mammoth component of the Metro Rail Project completed on time,” said Mr. Shankaraiah.
“We cannot help it. For the next fortnight, all those who have to catch trains should start 60 to 90 minutes ahead of their normal schedules because they have detours to make,” said the officers.
