Hyderabad: The Telangana government is set to scrap most of the flyovers and underpasses planned around Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (KBR) National Park, paring down 14 structures to a single elevated corridor, The Hindu reported.
The original blueprint under the Hyderabad City Innovative & Transformative Infrastructure (H-CITI) project called for seven flyovers and seven underpasses circling the park, covering junctions at Jubilee Hills Checkpost, the KBR National Park entrance, Road No 2, Road No 45, Film Nagar (Road No. 82), Road No 12 and Road No 10.
That plan will now be replaced with a two-way elevated corridor running from Jubilee Hills Check Post to Nagarjuna Circle, offering a signal-free stretch for traffic moving to and from Madhapur and Hitech City, officials said.
The rethink follows the smooth flow of traffic since police converted the stretch around the park to one-way movement. “After seeing how the traffic is moving without hassle around the park after implementing the one-way rule, the government has decided to redesign the project to create only one structure. While the decision is made, discussions are still on about how to take this forward,” The Hindu quoted a source.
The order is yet to be issued formally, with final details of the single structure still being worked out, and talks are on with the agency holding the tender for the work.
The one-way system itself began as a stopgap. Hyderabad Traffic Police had introduced it only to manage congestion caused by construction, even though environmentalists had pushed for a permanent one-way arrangement around the park for years. That temporary fix has now turned out to be the more durable solution. Cost was the other pressure point.
The original design required acquiring 247 properties, some owned by politicians, film personalities and other prominent figures, none of whom agreed to accept Transferable Development Rights as compensation.
That left the government to acquire the land under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, a route made costlier by revised Registration Department market values in the high-value real estate around the park.
The project has also drawn sustained opposition from citizens’ groups, who argued the flyovers and underpasses would concretise the park’s surroundings and harm it. Several property owners have moved the High Court against the land acquisition, while a separate case is pending before the Supreme Court over the Eco Sensitive Zone notified around the park.
