HYDERABAD: Why go via the city to work when you can reach work much faster via the outskirts? A recent tweet by a resident said that a 96-km detour took less than an hour, while a 36-km trip via the city took two hours to cover every day due to the heavy traffic on the bad roads near Wipro-IIIT junction. Commuters driving through Wipro-IIIT junction are facing a tough time due to traffic diversions at this junction. The Cyberabad traffic police has diverted traffic at Khajaguda-Nanakramguda road to facilitate the ongoing road and white topping work.

Travel time which was earlier 30 minutes has now increased to 2.5 hours which is not only wasting the commuter’s time but it is also wastage of fuel, complain commuters. With the Wipro-IIIT junction being closed and no alternative routes marked out, Outer Ring Road (ORR) exit in Gachibowli has become a nightmare for the IT employees and also for air travellers who take this road to reach the airport.

Ramanjeet Singh, a commuter says, “Financial District Road was one of the best roads in Hyderabad and would have gone well without repair for another five years. Authorities have woken up suddenly to widen the Nallagandla road and Nanakramguda road but those roads will take another four months to be laid. When the authorities concerned said no more digging of roads then why did they go ahead with the plan? Especially during the monsoons when traffic on good roads is also pathetically slow.”

He adds, “As this is a major road, officials should have worked on the alternative roads but nothing was done before blocking the road. The alternative roads being used now are Nanakramguda road and Nallagandla road which are not equipped to carry so much of load. Besides, the Nallagandla road is full of life threatening potholes.” Uma Mahesh, an IT professional working in Gachibowli, says, “The new one-way route has worsened the traffic jam at the IT corridor. Instead of nurturing the IT corridor which lays golden eggs for the economy, they are killing it.”

Anumod Thomas, another IT professional working in the IT corridor says, “A couple of weeks back GHMC said they would not allow digging up of the roads in the monsoon. But the whole road has been dug up. If they could have done this in the pre-monsoon period, they could have finished the work in half the time. Our taxes are being wasted.” He adds, “The excavations on the roads have no markings and no barriers. It is really life threatening. In front of Infosys you can see how dangerous it is. Hundreds of citizens use this road, and it is a clear indication that government doesn’t care much about its citizens.”

However, the Cyberabad traffic police say they had informed the IT employees in advance to avoid chaos. DCP A.R. Srinivas says, “This jam is inevitable. This has happened due to road work. We have kept the IT employees informed on the diversions and all is fine now. We request people to travel on this route only if it is essential.”