Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Of weekend bashes and traffic jams

Staff Reporter

Saturday night fervour: Traffic jam on Madhapur Road in Hyderabad as revellers hit the roads on weekends.

HYDERABAD: If you thought driving on the city suburbs during night is effortless, think again! Come every weekend, traffic moves at a snail’s pace owing to reckless driving by party revellers. Even fatal accidents have become a frequent on some stretches.

With increasing cosmopolitan culture in the State capital, weekend outing for Hyderabadis means a joyride in swanky cars and jazzy bikes and honking away to their favourite hot spots located on the city fringes. Be it a resort, pub, dabha or bar-cum-restaurant, city-dwellers don’t give a miss to the chance of enjoying weekend with their near and dear ones on every Saturday.

But, this trend is leading to traffic problem at several junctions in Cyberabad.

The situation is worst at Masjidpura junction in Shamirpet which connects the busy Rajiv Rahadari and Medchal roads where dabhas and resorts are located. Eight persons were also killed on this stretch in the last four months due to negligent and drunken driving while returning home after attending parties, the police said.

Revellers start going back to their homes only after 11 p.m. At the same time, heavy vehicles too enter the city. “If a vehicle gets stranded at any of these areas, then traffic comes to a grinding halt for almost two hours. And one can image the situation in case of an accident,” explains Cyberabad DCP (Traffic) P. Munni Swamy.

Another classic case is the L. B. Nagar junction. There are more than 20 dabhas, two resorts, 25 marriage halls followed by bar-cum-restaurants.

Long serpentine queues of vehicles can be witnessed from 10.45 p.m. till midnight on Saturdays.

“Customers start coming out from dabhas and bars from Nagole side while others from marriage halls on Champapet road side at almost same time leading to severe traffic jams,” points out the DCP. Similar is the scenario at Attapur in Rajendranagar.

Following complaints, home guards were deployed at L. B. Nagar, Masjidpura and Attapur junctions till midnight to regulate traffic, he says.

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