Rise in civilian-Army conflicts in SCB limits

Hyderabad: Incidents of civilian-Army conflicts are on the rise in the Secunderabad Cantonment area.

A couple of days back, Army personnel did not allow tents to be erected in connection with the urs of a dargah at Bowenpally leading to tension. Earlier, a road leading to the Holy Family Church near Trimu-lgherry was closed and later opened after public protest.

Moreover, the roads from Lakadawala to Balaji Nagar and Ammuguda to Bolaram are often closed by the defence authorities without prior notice and people have to obtain passes to access these roads.

The issuance of these passes is also withheld abruptly without notice at times. Through the Army authorities are restricting the movement of civilians only on lands and roads that they own — in A-1 category land and roads — unrest among civilians is growing and they are now demanding that Army installations be shifted outside the city.

“Almost every day we are bombarded over phone by our voters that the military is restricting their movements. Army’s interference is making it difficult for peaceful co-existence,” said ward member J. Pratap.

Pratap and other ward members  Venkat Rao and Vidyavathi will move a resolution in SCB meeting for the merger of the Cantonment area with GHMC and send the resolution to the defence ministry.

Meanwhile, SCB president Brigadier Sunil S. Bodhe said that citizens should understand that security threats to defence installations have increased, which has made restriction of civilian movement inevitable.

“In case of any incident, we would be asked to explain. Besides, civilians cannot force their entry into Army lands which are restricted zones. There are several military training institutes and due to increased civilian population and vehicular traffic, the outdoor training classes of the trainees are being missed or getting delayed,” he said.