All SCB roads open to public

Defence ministry tells LMA to open all roads immediately

The Union defence ministry on Sunday directed the reopening of all roads closed by the Local Military Authority (LMA) in all 62 cantonments, including in Secunderabad, bringing relief to lakhs of civilians who were having to take long detours to reach their destinations.

The order issued by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman marked the end of a four-year-long battle waged by residents, for whom the arterial roads lay in the Secunderabad Cantonment and were closed by the LMA.

As many as 16 roads were closed by the LMA in Secunderabad; the night-time restrictions on four other roads were lifted recently. Residents were uncertain if the order would be limited to the AOC roads and would not cover the closed roads in the TS and Andhra sub area in Bolarum and Yapral, which account for nearly 80 per cent of the closed roads.

Officials were yet to clarify on the orders. The order followed the meeting that Ms Sitharaman had held on May 4 with representatives of all cantonments. It said Ms Sitharaman had discussed the issue with Army chief General Bipin Rawat and defence secretary Sanjay Mitra. For the residents of SCB, it marked the end of an effort that saw many signature campaigns and shramdhans and repeated knocking on the doors of the LMA.

The Union defence ministry on Sunday directed the reopening of all roads closed by the Local Military Authority (MLA) in all 62 cantonments, including in Secunderabad, bringing relief to lakhs of civilians who were having to take long detours to reach their destinations.

Mr Chandrashekar, secretary of the northeastern colonies, said, “The order clearly states that all the cantonment roads should be open and not only the roads in the AOC which is just a part of the cantonment. We are waiting for all the blocked roads to open.”

He said this order brought great relief to nearly 20 lakh people spread across three municipalities. “We have been conducting a shramdaan continuously for 14 weeks seeking the reopening of the service road in RK Puram,” he said.

The residents are apprehensive of the implementation of the order following a disappointment they faced in 2015 when then defence minister Manohar Parrikar had also spoken about reopening the roads.

Mr Pankaj Sethi, a resident of Yapral, said, “We have had a lot of false alarms before, and hope that this time we are not disappointed. This is an achievement of all 62 cantonments who came together and the power of social media helped our campaign.”

He hoped that the roads near the Golf Course would open soon, and not just the AOC roads. Many colonies to the south of SCB like Malkajgiri tried to make the best of the situation and worked to find alternatives. However the large number of roads that were closed caused numerous problems residents.

Mr B.T. Srinivas, general secretary of United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations, said, “We have fought for this order since February 23, 2014 when we held our first protest. We have given countless representations to the LMA and worked with them to try and find alternatives to the roads. This order is especially exemplary because cantonments all over the country will be free from the whims and fancies of the government to shut down roads as they please.”

Before Sunday’s written order, the defence minister has verbally directed the LMA to relax the night restrictions imposed by the Army on four Cantonment roads used by the civilians since its inception. This is the second development following the meeting with the defence minister. to