Traffic jam on Begumpet-Panjagutta stretch. | Photo Credit: File photo
“Brother, please increase the sound of the song, we will also listen.” (Please increase the volume, we would like to listen to it too) said one of the bikers to a car driver stuck beside him in the Paradise-Begumpet traffic. Commuters have been easily spending 10-15 minutes stranded with slow movement of traffic in the central Hyderabad region over the past few days. The traffic is remaining gridlocked during most part of the day, raising the hackles of motorists.
Netizens have been flooding X (formerly Twitter) with posts and complaints about the traffic movement across the Begumpet-Panjagutta stretch over the last few days. “It usually takes me about 30-35 minutes to cover Banjara Hills to Malkajgiri but off late, I am spending over 45-50 minutes to get home,” said Aravind Rao, a private employee.
“People used to say Bengaluru has more traffic, come to Hyderabad once. People are not giving way to ambulances. I can say Bengaluru is much better. #hyderabadtraffic @hydcitypolice”, posted Nikhil Reddy on X on December 9 at 5.30 p.m.
Even with the removal of the barricaded entrance near the Chief Minister’s camp office, traffic flow has not become smooth towards Begumpet from Panjagutta, said Nithin Raj, a digital marketing executive. “I frequently travel to Madhapur and back from Sindhi Colony for client meetings and the last few days have been nothing but horrible. The bike’s engine has been heating up with such slow movements on the stretch,” he said.
Interestingly, commuters shared that compared to other cities, the visibility of traffic cops has always been felt and that the on-ground staff has been active. Debu Sinha, a private employee from Alwal, said that cities like Vizag, which has relatively less population compared to metro cities, has poor traffic management and lack of personnel on the ground level. “The cops on the Hyderabad roads have been actively routing and rerouting but we need overall smoother flow to tackle traffic,” he said.
Meanwhile, though the social media handle of Hyderabad Traffic Police has been updating the congestion and slow movements on a daily basis, officials say that there have been no complaints or issues. Panjagutta ACP (traffic), D. Nageshwara Rao said that there had been halts of not more than two minutes. “The VIP movement has always been active on this stretch. The social media posts have been of the 1-2 minute halts when VIP convoy passes through and we did not have any congestion as such,” said the official.
