I never thought distance mattered much in Hyderabad until I called up a friend who lives in Secunderabad to catch up. “No way I am coming that far in the evening because I won’t be able to reach home until night,” was her reply.
I was puzzled. I had asked her to travel around 10 kilometres, which for the longest time has been a 30-minute commute for us. Since when did my city become such a big pain to commute, I wondered. But the same thing happened with three others last week, and that’s when I realised that Hyderabad is no longer the travel-friendly city it used to be.
We’re on our way to becoming a mess like Bengaluru.
Any time there is a civic catastrophe in Bengaluru, the whole country laughs and lampoons its infrastructure problems, be it overflowing lakes or mad traffic jams. It is also usually followed by ‘Hyderabad is so much better’ memes because our city and its people are always trying to show that we are a better destination for everything.
But I think it’s time we stop fooling ourselves and accept the fact that we are are bad as or worse than Bengaluru now. Just last week, heavy rains lashed the city for over an hour, leaving several roads flooded and with floating vehicles.
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Barely functioning city
Hitech City, the pride of Hyderabad, was such a terrible mess that it took someone I know two hours to go across the city. Just so you know, it takes about an hour on a regular day. Just one heavy downpour and Hyderabad is done for.
We have some amazing flyovers, but what’s the point if those also get flooded? Last week was such an embarrassment for Hyderabad. Bikers had to literally swim with their bikes during the rain.
Our city historically had over 1000 lakes, most of which have disappeared due to urbanisation. Many areas across Hyderabad literally stand on areas that were once water bodies—anything that ends with the Telugu word Kunta or Katta is a former lake.
Even our roads were generally good, but even that isn’t true anymore. In fact, half the reason why Hitech City is always jammed and a terrible mess during the monsoons is because of the bad roads. I wonder how the current government thinks it can talk about building ‘Future City’ in Hyderabad when even the present city itself is barely functioning.
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy proudly launched the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Protection Agency (HYDRAA) to protect lakes and help the city deal with infrastructure issues. HYDRAA has been going after builders who have encroached on lakes, and has even supposedly been reviving lakes, but I doubt that will be enough to actually tackle our infrastructure issues.
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Skyline isn’t enough
Roads and civic infrastructure were much better under the last BRS government. Which is why it managed to win most of the seats in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area in the 2023 state elections despite losing power in the state.
This government needs to actually do something about our roads. Maybe it can take some time out from making grand announcements about building new things. The people of Hyderabad are suffering thanks to a lax government that has only focused on building a great skyline.
Post Independence, we kept expanding the city and constructing newer buildings, but forgot to create infrastructure to support it. Hitech City should have been the jewel in our crown to actually show the world that Hyderabad is a great place for people to live in without any problems.
Hyderabad will soon not be an option for anyone who wants to get away from Bengaluru.
Hyderabadis have a ‘sab chalta hai’ or anything goes attitude because of which we keep quiet. But I don’t remember my city being affected this way in the last two decades. It is embarrassing, honestly. So it’s time we stop this comparison and actually fix our problems first before gloating about being better than another city with its own problems.
Yunus Lasania is a Hyderabad-based journalist whose work primarily focuses on politics, history, and culture. He tweets @YunusLasania. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)