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-   -   Residential colonies fencing off public roads & using gates to deny access (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/267878-residential-colonies-fencing-off-public-roads-using-gates-deny-access.html)

Dear Mods,

Please merge if there is any thread on this new happenings on Hyderabad roads and also edit the title if it doesn't suit.

Off late, I have observed that many colonies in Hyderabad in and around Kondapur(Near to Hitech City) and Miyapur(NH65 vicinity) have started fencing the boundaries and closing the many entries with gates which bars outsiders from entering the colony.

I was driving into a colony near Miyapur( Mythrinagar - Hafeezpet -Manjeera Pipe Line Underpass - My Home Mangala Route), most Hyderabad locals knows this place and have been stopped by locals asking my route details. When I had told that I have to cross this colony to reach the other side of the NH65, they have blocked the road and forced me to take another route which is a main road by default.

In another instance, a by lane has been closed by a gated community which is mostly of G+1 Villas. When repeatedly asked the community people, they have told that if the gate isnt built, outsiders have started taking their internal streets to reach the main roads and thus their colony is getting chaos and congested.

I couldn't get into an argument for very obvious reasons that every law breaking citizen has a rogue background in Hyderabad.

I will share the route map and all the fenced colonies if members are interested in more precise data.

I would to like to hear if anything such is known in other parts of Hyderabad or other metro's when roads are blocked and questioned on route details for outsides.

P.S. This didn't happen during odd hours to be questioned as part of security. Bright day time and not by any security.

P.P.S : Will have to check with the Police if such barricading and closing routes is allowed legally.

I think they are trying to curtail rat running.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_running

Oh, that's a new terminology for me. Is this legal in India? I see this happening in 2 instances. One with very rich gated community having villas and other is the colony road which are taken due to a very long drive for a U turn.

Some housing societies tried in Bangalore and those were promptly nipped in the bud by the corporation. Even big fellows like L&T had to demolish a wall to ensure free public movement. All these were curtailed a decade or so ago.

Add to that Brigade Millenium in JP Nagar :thumbs up. I think there is no integrated future planning from authorities and let private parties to do whatever. Later they realize that parallel roads have no access to each other.

Too many people think they can convert public property into "private access". This is especially blatant with upscale housing projects in cities and with resorts near the beach, even when most regulations clearly state that there must be public access. The owners/security staff count on people not making a big deal, and most people just leave quietly. But if a significant number of people start to make an issue, or even better, file a case (but you'll have to be very motivated to do that), they will back off.

Saw a heart-warming article somewhere where a big hotel in the US had blocked local access to a beach. The community fought a legal battle and won. And till the hotel created a path through their resort for public access, the court ruled that the public could walk through the property to get to the beach. So for a few months, people would take their dogs, take a walk in shorts and flip-flops, through the fancy hotel to teach them a lesson! Now that's justice!

Google maps is the biggest enabler of rat running :D

Can't agree more with you on this one sir. Try passing through Jal Vayu Vihar near the Arjun theatre and you will see even flower pots being used as road dividers and diverting traffic. There are many areas that you can't even pass through and all of them are proper municipal roads. That is just another example. I have seen many colonies do this and just park their cars right in the middle of the road with barricades blocking our entry. This sure is a menace, the police need to take notice and do something.

Those who have paid a bomb for premium localities will always discourage thoroughfare, it will ruin the neighborhood. I have seen many of them like that, they may have 1 main road that is open to public and all others closed off, some of them may allow one way traffic only, some do not allow any outsiders at all.

There are some areas like this where the residents will not allow a single commercial establishment to come anywhere near it, not even a small shop. In other words you cannot buy anything unless you take your vehicle out or a very long walk.

But - its amazing to live in such places, the peace and quiet, everyone you meet is a known face, children can ride their bicycle around the neighborhood, nothing gets stolen etc so there is that.

A small colony next to South India shopping mall in Vivekananda Nagar, Kukatpally has gates and restricted access.

This trend is really alarming. Most painful because of no signal roads claim by police and creating U turns with no logic or sense.

U turn RTO kondapur became the biggest mess of the year so far followed by Shilpa layout flyover diversion.:Frustrati

I believe you are referring to L&T South City. If so, there's more to the story. L&T sold the road (South City road) passing adjacent to the gated community along with the park to the north of the campus as part of L&T gated campus. The public park adjacent to the campus, ironically named as L&T South City park (loc. link), is still considered as part of the society area by many.

A bit of googling will lead to blogs and other links of L&T residents complaining how they had been cheated by the builder as at the time of construction, L&T showed the road and park as part of the campus; the same was later corrected once the corporation stepped in much later.

More details here

I was actually a resident of Sumitra Nagar for 8 years and after 11 it would be difficult to gain access for me to get back from office. I had to take detours to enter my apartment. The gate is huge and not manned, it's just locked for access.

Great thread OP.

For readers who are not aware of Hyderabad-style real estate development, let me give some info. There are mainly 2 types; one is the regular gated community which has typical G+1 or G+2 villas and the other is plotted development.

In the first one, the developer has 10 acres and constructs a compound wall around it and also say, 100 villas inside. Outsiders cannot access the community and also cannot use the roads inside for travel.

In the second type, the developer has 10 acres and he constructs the roads along with standard plots like 200/300 square yards. Anyone can buy the plot and construct a house or apartment, as per their choice. However, the developer has to gift the roads and parks within that 10 acres to the corporation/panchayat. With that, those roads become public roads.

Such roads cannot be blocked by any colony member because it is a public road i.e. maintained by the same tax we all pay (but it was constructed by the amount paid by the plot owners). I'm not sure whether rat-running is the right term here, but do know that you are not doing anything illegal by using such roads. However, as OP cautioned, be mindful before getting into an argument.

If they wanted that, they should have bought homes in completely enclosed gated communities and live the good life. No one is gonna complain about that.

Trying to appropriate municipal public access streets for their own use without proper consultation with the municipal body is purely criminal.

There are streets I know where residential community works with corporation to block throughfare at certain hours of the day or weekends only etc. They could always try that instead of being selfish and narcissistic.