Reopen road on the south of Rushikonda Hill to reduce traffic congestion and protect the beach, association urges Chief Minister

CART president urges CM Naidu to reopen road near Rushikonda beach to reduce traffic congestion and protect the beach.

Citizens’ Association for Responsible Tourism (CART) president P.S.S. Prakash on Saturday appealed to Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu to reopen the road on the south of Rushikonda Hill to protect the Rushikonda beach and also reduce the traffic congestion at the busy junction.

Mr. Prakash met Mr. Naidu during his visit to Rushikonda on Saturday evening and submitted the representation.

According to the representation, traffic congestion was occuring on the approach road to the Blue Flag beach at Rushikonda, especially during weekends. During year 2018, a new road was built on the southern side of Rushikonda Hill, and it was helpful to the tourists and motorists. There was no traffic congestion due to opening of the road. The road, which was also looking like a beautiful necklace around the Rushikonda Hill, helped in easing the traffic congestion on the approach road. In fact, the road was also shown in the beach access plan of the Blue Flag programme while seeking approvals and certification under Blue Flag Programme.

However, the previous YSRCP government completely blocked the south and east road of the Hill, while constructing a mansion on it that resulted in severe traffic congestion for the past three years on the road leading to the Blue Flag beach.

The traffic congestion was much horrible on the weekends for the visitors and tourists to the beach. Several representations were made to the previous government to remove the restrictions, but they went unheeded.

“There is an urgent need to reopen the south road to prevent traffic congestion. Further, the maintenance of the Blue Flag beach took a huge hit during the last five years and unless measures are taken on priority to improve the sanitary conditions and other amenities at the Blue Flag Beach, we may be at the risk of losing the Blue Flag Certification for our beach. We request your intervention and issue instructions to the District Collector and authorities concerned to do the needful,” Mr. Prakash said.