“I feel scared when vehicles pass me — I feel some vehicle will hit me or run over my feet. And that’s why we stand warily while regulating traffic. Drivers abuse us if we hold traffic up for a few minutes,” says a traffic constable of Asifnagar traffic police station.
“I try to grab the hand of any young person crossing the road. I cannot move quickly and take the help of others while crossing this road. The vehicles never stop,” says Yadiah, a regular bus commuter from Chilkur, who brings small bags of flowers to sell at the Mehdipatnam Rythu Bazaar.
Fear, near-misses, abuses, anger — these are all part of traffic terror at Mehdipatnam under PVNR expressway between pillar no. 13 and 14. The situation has become more challenging ever since the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) installed grills on the road divider to create a single passage between the two bus stops on either side of the eight-lane road. This has also increased the commuting time for people going towards Gachibowli as well as towards Masab Tank.
Everyday, about 550 city buses of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) make more than 7,200 trips to disgorge about 3,60,000 commuters at the twin bus stops. Then there are dozens of buses from the districts of Telangana, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, as well as buses run by SETWIN corporation, from which passengers alight and clamber aboard. This takes the total number of commuters to over 4 lakh.
About half the number of passengers, which comprise farmers from Chevalla and Parigi to students and senior citizens, have to cross the road walking on two zebra crossings. Add the quirky agile autorickshaws and it is a fine recipe for chaos on one of the busiest highways of the city.
“The peak hours are between 4.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. when all the buses come packed and everyone is in a hurry to cross the road. We have asked the Asifnagar PS to help manage traffic as about 550 buses from various depots in the city touch this junction,” informs Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Mehdipatnam TSRTC depot manager. “We may have to live with this as there is no one shot solution for the same.”
“We have three plus one traffic officials regulating the spot. And we have to be constantly on our toes. There used to be a Foot Over Bridge before the flyover was constructed. Now, we may have to look for a solution like a subway,” says a traffic constable of Asifnagar PS.
Fortunately, though the traffic is chaotic, there are very few accidents here, inform traffic cops.
