Hyderabad: Ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to the city, residents of the Secunderabad Cantonment area have appealed to Narendra Modi to look into the issue of the SCB merger.
Cantonment Vikas Manch (CVM), an NGO in the SCB, requested the Prime Minister to announce that the Secunderabad Cantonment will be merged into the local governance - Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
“The Prime Minister’s words will have a huge impact on the process. The excision of civil areas is almost done, we hope that his statement will expedite the work, hopefully bringing an order of merger immediately, as it happened with the Kasol cantonment,” said Sanki Ravinder Babu, resident and president of CVM.
The merger of civil areas with the GHMC has been a long-pending demand of the residents. “Our movement has often been restricted by road closure of the Defence authorities. Also, a quick walk past our lanes will show how there barely have been any developmental works here, especially in comparison to areas under the GHMC, thanks to every request having to be approved by the Centre for execution,” said Mithali Makka, a resident of Bowenpally.
The Union defence ministry had, in January, announced the separation of civilian areas from the Secunderabad Cantonment and their merger with the GHMC.
In a communication sent to the state government on January 4, giving its approval for the excision of civil areas from the cantonment, the defence ministry said a committee was being formed to work out the modalities for the same.
