Hyderabad’s new elevated corridor reshapes a neighbourhood, one shop at a time
The construction of a new 18.1-km elevated corridor in Hyderabad is leading to the demolition of long-standing local businesses in the Lothkunta neighborhood. While the project aims to alleviate severe traffic congestion, it is simultaneously erasing the cultural and social fabric of a community that relied on these local shops for decades.
Why it matters
This highlights the tension between urban infrastructure development and the preservation of local community identity and small-scale economies.
For decades, the nearly 500-metre stretch along Rajiv Rahadari in Lothkunta was more than just a busy roadside corridor; it was part of the neighbourhood’s daily rhythm. Residents bought medicines from local pharmacies, stopped by restaurants and general stores, while IT employees returning from nearby offices gathered at tea stalls. In the early 2000s, a small VCD and DVD shop was a popular hangout, long before OTT platforms changed the way people watched films.
Today, those familiar storefronts have been reduced to rubble as the shops are being demolished to make way for the proposed Paradise-Shamirpet elevated corridor.
The transformation marks the beginning of one of Hyderabad’s largest transport infrastructure projects. Planned along Rajiv Rahadari (State Highway-1), the 18.1-km corridor will run from Paradise Junction to the Outer Ring Road near Shamirpet via Trimulgherry, Karkhana, Lothkunta, Alwal, Bolarum and Thumkunta.
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