Hyderabad: 14 roads remain closed in Cantonment, MoD order not implemented

Hyderabad: A month after the Union Ministry of Defence on May 20 ordered reopening of roads in all of Cantonment, the Local Military Authority (LMA) has not yet implemented the orders. As many as 14 roads are still closed in Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) area, affecting 20 lakh residents.

The LMA has to send a report regarding road closures to the ministry by June 25. The proposed joint survey by the LMA and elected representatives never took place. Residents now ask how the LMA would send the report without opening all roads.

Mr C S Chandrashekar, secretary of the Federation of North Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad, said, “We want all our public roads to be reopened. We request the SCB to implement the orders of the Ministry of Defence and the Army Headquarters in true spirit.”

LMA has built walled constructions to block the movement of residents, and they remain intact even today. None of those walled constructions have been removed after the orders. Over a period of time, the LMA has closed 25 roads without following the due procedure mentioned in section 256 of Cantonment Act 2006. Among them, 14 roads remain closed still.

A representation given to Hyderabad district collector Dr Yogita Rana by the organisation, Open Secunderabad Cantonment All Roads, states: “There is a growing apprehension among civilians that ground is being prepared to keep roads closed on some pretext or the other, and furnish wrong statistics to MoD. This must be prevented at all costs.”