Aug. 1: Lakhs of commuters traversing the No. 6 Junction at Amberpet have to put up with regular traffic jams as the cash-starved Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has shelved the plan to construct a flyover at the junction to ease traffic congestion.

Nearly 4 lakh vehicles pass through the junction every day and traffic studies have revealed that a flyover would not only facilitate free flow of vehicular traffic at the junction but would also ease traffic congestion at Golnaka and Sri Ramana Talkies crossroads.

Even designs and detailed project report along with estimates and feasibility reports were prepared by a private agency, Stup Consultants. However, GHMC has backed out of the project at the last minute stating financial constraints. The estimated cost of the project is over Rs 60 crore.

The No. 6 Junction stretch from Golnaka to Amberpet falls under the National Highway 202. Now, the civic body wants the highway authorities to take up the project as the road belongs to them. The civic body recently wrote to the National High Authority to take up the project.

It may be mentioned that the proposed flyover at the junction was also planned to avoid large-scale land acquisition that is required if road widening is taken up.

Also, the road-widening process was not taken up due to a graveyard between the No. 6 Junction popularly known as ‘Che Number Chowrasta’ and Sri Ramana theatre, where the road narrows down to around 20 feet in width.