Encroachments on roads swiftly removed by GHMC

Yousufguda: Roads in Yousufguda, Rahamathnagar, GTS Colony, Madhura Nagar have acquired more space after encroachment removals. Though the roads are built narrowly, vendors never leave a chance to set up stalls on the roads.

As a result, movement through such roads becomes slows down and traffic snarls are the order of the day. Following repeated pleas by the public and after giving adequate time for shifting their businesses, GHMC finally took up a drive to demolish the encroachments on roads, which are the root cause of traffic jams and accidents.

Encroachments and illegally-raised floors were razed by the GHMC officials in Yousufguda and Rahamathnagar areas on Tuesday under the supervision of GHMC Deputy Commissioner Ramesh and Assistant City Planner Rajitha.

On the main junction of Rahamathnagar Cross Roads, a general store, two pan shops and a garland selling shed were demolished as they were built illegally occupying the main road. Rahamathnagar road is a commercially busy thoroughfare, spot where locals run their small business, almost right on the roads. Mostly, this road is occupied by food stalls which were illegally established with a temporary roof. The pan shops occupy the most space of bus stop and auto stand. Now, all such illegal establishments were finally pulled down by the GHMC, providing the much-needed relief.

"Among all the six zones, Khairatabad and Secunderabad host the maximum rickety occupation of roads. We started encroachments removal yesterday in the Sherlingampally zone, identified and removed encroachments in SR Nagar, Ameerpet and Mitrivanam areas. Yousufuda, Rahamathnagar, Madhuranagar, Out-post and GTS colonies saw a clean sweep of encroachments today. A majority targets were the main roads so far and the inner streets would also be facing encroachment removals soon." said Ramesh, Deputy Commissioner GHMC.

"Encroachments were removed as they were causing inconvenience to the commuters and those were the major reason for the traffic jams, especially on these narrow roads in Rahamathnagar and Yousufguda," according to Rajitha, Assistant City Planner, GHMC.

Residents and neighbours around were being counselled about the dangers involved before taking up the major encroachment removal process. "Under the supervision of the GHMC officials, encroachments were demolished on the main roads of Yousufguda and Rahamathnagar area. No complaints were raised by any shopkeeper or vendor and they admitted their mistake of establishing businesses on roads illegally," said Shekar, Sub-Inspector, Out-post, Rahamathnagar.

"It's a big relief for the traffic following this encroachment removal. The road from Yousufguda to Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy Stadium is filled with encroachments. Also, road extension has not been carried out here and the stretch is very narrow. Would be happier and appreciate it much if the extension of roads is take up along with this," said Kishore, a marketing agent and resident of Rahamathnagar

Due to encroachments along with construction works of houses, there is too much dust in the area. Homemaker P Shobha Rani said, "Even walking on this stretch is not possible without breathing polluted air. There is hardly any place. There are many shops on roads, business stalls and also too much of construction material lying on the roads."