Out of bounds: Army seizes road machines

Hyderabad: Army authorities on Thursday confiscated road laying machines and sand lorries while work was going on between the Kowkoor Village and Shamirpet, asking workers not to lay roads in “defence areas”.

Malkajgiri MLA, TD’s C. Kanaka Reddy said that in spite of reasoning with the Army authorities, they refused to permit the work to be carried out.

The state government had recently sanctioned Rs 65 crore for the development of a 16-km, four-lane track from Yapral to Shamirpet. This road will be linked to the ORR.

Mr Kanaka Reddy said, “The Kowkoor village has existed for 100 years and falls under the Malkajgiri constituency. Presently 20,000 families live there; it is an under-developed area. The stretch joining Yapral to Shamirpet is used by nearly two lakh commuters through Kowkoor village. Adjacent to this village is the Army establishment and in recent times they have been asking residents to get an NoC from the Can-tonment. The Army is claiming that the Kowkoor village is defence land and is asking residents for registration of houses.”

Army interrupts road-laying works

On March 29, the laying of BT road between Yapral to Shamirpet was initiated, the total stretch being 16 km, linking to the Outer Ring Road. This is a four-lane main carriageway. However, the road which is passing through Kowkoor to Shamirpet (100 km) belongs to the Roads and Buildings department, and has been maintained for several years by the state government.

“The Army is objecting to work being done on the road,” he said, adding, “They refused to permit road work on this stretch, they confiscated the road-laying machine and also sand lorries and said, don't lay roads in defence areas.”

On Thursday, military jawans also went around asking residents for NOCs.

This particular BT road links Sainikpuri to Shamirpet and access to the BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad campus will also be developed.

While the CEO of the Cantonment was unavailable for comment, a senior Army officer, who did not want to be named, said, “Outside the Cantonment area, the Army has acquired approximately 19 acres for a firing range. The state government authorities can approach the Defence Estate Officer, and a joint survey can be done so that the roads falling under civil and defence areas can be identified.”

The Army has no problems if the road is laid after the Kowkoor culvert, however, it is refusing to allow road development works before the culvert.