Chaos, cacophony at Hyderabad’s Sangeet Junction

Sangeet junction doesn’t wait for peak hour, it becomes it. By mid-afternoon on a weekday, what begins as a few auto-rickshaws ferrying school children quickly turns into a flood of yellow college buses, RTC services and office-goers queuing up. By around 4 p.m., the transformation is complete: the crossroad slows to a near standstill.

Located at the heart of Secunderabad and named after the now-defunct Sangeet Theatre, the junction is no longer just a nostalgic nod to the city’s cinema culture. It’s where the daily chaos of commuters from Uppal, LB Nagar, Tarnaka and beyond collides with the city’s central artery. What follows is an exercise in patience. Vehicles creep forward a few metres — engines switched off between signal changes — only to stop again. It often takes two or three full signal cycles to make it across the junction. A traffic cop on duty usually overrides the digital signalling system and manages it manually.

A commuter approaching from St. John’s Church ironically halts beside a sign that reads ‘do not block free left’. The free left is anything but free, clogged with waiting two-wheelers, stuck buses and honking cars, all inching ahead. The most severe pressure comes from the Tarnaka-Allagaddabavi side, the main entry point for traffic from East Hyderabad and beyond. Commuters from Vijayawada and Jangaon highways also funnel into this stretch, keeping the junction packed from morning until late into the night.

Aarti Rao, a 25-year-old private employee, has adjusted to the routine. “I always add an extra five to seven minutes to my travel time. The queue sometimes stretches all the way back to the junior college. You might get two green lights and still not move much.”

Adding to the congestion is the presence of around six schools and three colleges in the immediate vicinity, turning the area into a funnel for school vans, buses and private vehicles during peak dispersal hours.

Commuters navigate heavy congestion at Sangeet junction as increased vehicular flow slows down traffic movement, in Secunderabad.
| Photo Credit:
RAMAKRISHNA G

An officer from Gopalapuram Traffic said the real issue is the sheer volume of vehicles. “There are no traffic jams in the usual sense. But when you have this many vehicles funnelled into one junction, delays are inevitable. A drainage repair in June added to the mess, followed by spillover from the Allagaddabavi stretch during the rains. The signal timing, 60 to 90 seconds for vehicles from Allagaddabavi, isn’t enough. The full cycle takes about three minutes, and during that time, the backlog just keeps building.” He added that earlier, the rush was limited to morning and evening hours. Now, there is barely any downtime. “Be it 2 p.m. or 3 p.m., it’s peak hour. Then come the school and college buses. It never really ends.”

For residents and regulars, this version of Sangeet junction is unrecognisable. “Five years ago, off-peak meant smooth driving,” said Sameer Shaikh, a businessman based in Secunderabad. “Now there’s no such thing as off-peak. Even at 11 a.m., it’s packed.”

Sushmita Venkat, a lecturer from Bhoiguda, said that the unpredictability is the worst part. “You think you’ll make it through this time, and then a lorry blocks the underpass or someone clogs the free left. That’s it, you’re stuck again.”

Rahul B., a software engineer who commutes from Habsiguda to Banjara Hills, put it simply: “There’s no rhythm to it anymore. Sangeet used to be a short wait. Now it’s the biggest bottleneck on my route.”

Netizens have occasionally taken to social media to address the junction. J. Raj mentioned that the solution to Sangeet’s traffic woes is simple. “A basic flyover at Jubilee Hills Check Post, DLF-IDBI junction, and at Sangeet would change life in these places. It’s not rocket science.”

Until then, Sangeet Junction will remain what it has become, a congested but culturally loaded landmark. A place where history once flickered on the big screen, now replayed in the minds of those inching forward in long queues.