Six Secunderabad Cantonment Board roads opened for civilian traffic

HYDERABAD: Worries of apprehensive residents ended on Tuesday as the defense ministry’s orders on SCB roads were implemented by the Local Military Authority, albeit a day late. As many as 6 roads were reopened on Tuesday from 6 am. The blockages at Valerian Grammar School Gates, Eagle Chowk Gate, Holy Trinity Church Gate, Bisan Dwar, Hakimpet Gate and Hanuman Temple Balaji Nagar Gate were removed.  Earlier, night restrictions at four Army Ordinance Corps (AOC) roads - Entrenchment Road, Gough Road, Wellington Road and Ordinance Road, were relaxed.

Over 20 lakh residents  were in apprehension about the implementation of MoD orders. All the roads that were closed by the Army  will be reopened for the civilians soon.   The blockages at Valerian Grammar School Gates, Eagle Chowk Gate, Holy Trinity Church Gate, Bisan Dwar, Hakimpet Gate and Hanuman Temple Balaji Nagar Gate were removed. Earlier, night restrictions at four Army Ordinance Corps (AOC) roads — Entrenchment Road, Gough Road, Wellington Road and Ordinance Road, were relaxed.

The LMA came out with an official statement that read: “Based on the meeting convened by Raksha Mantri Nirmala Sitharaman with the Members of Parliament and elected Vice Presidents of all 62 Cantonment Boards on May 4, 2018, on issues related to Cantonment, a detailed review was undertaken by the Ministry on various issues, in particular, those related to the closure of roads at the Cantonments.” It further said that based on the review undertaken by the Defence Minister, as a first step, the following has been decided: “All closed roads in the Cantonments will be reopened immediately.”

Residents are happy that at last their trouble to travel the extra mile came to an end. “When the roads were closed in the beginning, people suffered a lot. There were tales of women who quit their jobs as they couldn’t travel so much as they faced health issues. It was said that an auto driver had to quit his work and join in some office. The closure of roads impacted people’s livelihood,” C. S. Chandrashekar, Secretary of Federation of North Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad, said.

N. Venkata Ramana, a resident of Malani Enclave at Tirumalgherry said: “This is a partial good news. We are demanding for the opening of the roads which were closed by building permanent structures. There are such walls in Lakdawaala gate, Holy Trinity, and Ammuguda in Yapral and Bolaram area and RK Puram Railway Over Bridge Underpass Service Road.” Speaking to the Deccan Chronicle about the permanent structures, Army officials said that as the major problem has been solved, these minor problems will also be taken care of very soon.