The state government has issued a show-cause notice to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for not releasing its share of funds for the construction of a crucial transport infrastructure project in the city. The government had directed the GHMC to share 50 per cent of the total Rs 25 crore estimated for the construction of a road overbridge (ROB) from Patigadda to Sanjeev-aiah Park-Necklace Road. The GHMC has not released the money till date, three years after the foundation stone was laid for the crucial project.
The remainder 50 per cent of the flyover construction cost is to be borne by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Develop-ment Authority (HMDA), which has been asked to execute the project. However, with no money coming from the GHMC, the HMDA has not taken up any works, leaving the project in the doldrums. The flyover would reduce the vehicular traffic congestion on Sardar Patel Road and provide a third route connecting the twin cities, besides reducing the congestion between the Tank Bund and Begumpet-Khairatabad corridors.
It would also reduce the traffic congestion on several adjoining junctions — Begumpet, Greenlands, Punjagutta, Ranigunj, and Mahatma Gandhi Road. A senior official at the GHMC confirmed: “The government has asked the municipal corporation why it should not cancel or suspend the resolution of the earlier standing committee that had rejected to release GHMC's share of money for the flyover construction.” The earlier standing committee of corporators, led by then mayor Kartika Reddy, had rejected the government's directions and said in October 2010 that the corporation could not fund the project as its financial condition was bad.
Mayor Majid Hussain said the present standing committee had decided to forward the same old resolution that the GHMC would not able to finance the flyover project due to its precarious financial status. As a result, the flyover project is likely to remain a non-starter even as traffic woes worsen.