Lower Tank Bund road turns into dumpyard-Telangana Today

On other end towards Telugu Talli flyover, the road is being used to park four-wheelers

Hyderabad: The Lower Tank Bund Road which was closed in a bid to avoid traffic congestion for over two months has now turned into a deserted lane, being used to sort out garbage and park vehicles.

With not much of a vehicular frequency, thanks to the diversion and road closure, multiple swachh autos that visit the lower Tank Bund’s Secondary Collection and Transportation Point (SCTP) are now freely using the section to segregate the garbage.

“We do not earn much by collecting garbage from door-to-door and transporting it. To earn extra cash, we separate cardboard and tins from the garbage which we can sell. But we have to do that on the road,” explains a sanitation worker.

Although SCTPs have proved to be useful in decentralizing the waste management system in Hyderabad, the lack of space for the garbage collectors inside this facility is leading them to take up sorting on the road.

With waste spilled all over the place and black trash bags stacked against the walls, the once functional lane has turned into a messy wasteland, creating inconvenience to other establishments on the road.

If this is the state of one part of this lane, the other end towards the Telugu Talli flyover is being used to park four-wheelers, with street lights being non-functional at night.

“Of course having a garbage dumping yard beside the hotel is not good for business. But there is not much smell. We just wish that the vans are not parked outside and roads are cleaned regularly,” says a staff member of the hotel beside the SCTP on the condition of anonymity.

Traffic cops however maintain that the diversions are in place to ensure that motorists do not have to wait at traffic signals and said that there are enough U-turns and lanes that motorists can take to get to the other side of the road.

City-based road safety enthusiast Harsha adds that while the free right for those coming from the Telugu Talli flyover is helpful, barricades at the lower tank bund are causing a hindrance to motorists traveling from Steel Bridge towards Ranigunj.

Moreover, there have been instances of traffic cops levying fines on garbage van drivers for removing the barricades to enter the lower tank bund lane, highlighting the ambiguity on the diversions and usage of the road.