Closing the ring road for racers

HYDERABAD: The Outer Ring Road is not open for two-wheelers. But two-wheelers do sneak in despite police vigil, according to Rajeshwar Tiwari, commissioner, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority.Expressing his condolences to Azharuddin’s family, Tiwari said it was extremely sad that youngsters were losing lives on the highway due to speed biking.“The HMDA will set up toll booths within a month or two on the stretch,” he said in reply to a query on what the HMDA proposed to do to prevent speed biking on the outer ring road.Except the Gachibowli-Shamshabad stretch, the Outer Ring Road is at present being sparingly used. The authorities have thrown open to the public only the stretch that has radium lights. “People are not allowed to use the roads that are still under-construction. We have boards on display wherever the construction is in progress. However, a few vehicles ply on the unfinished stretch for construction purposes and others follow them,” the commissioner said. Another issue that crops up when two-wheelers use these roads at night is that there are no streetlights on the highways. According to the National Highways Authority of India guidelines, highways do not have streetlights except for places where it passes through the municipal or Grampanchayat areas, where there is inhabitation on either side of the highway.