Cantt India to form reforms committee

While 14 roads in the Secunderabad Cantonment continue to be closed, its counterparts elsewhere have had better success. Participants at a two-day meeting of cantonment welfare associations that ended here on Sunday said roads have opened in many cities including Belgaum and Kanpur.

Speaking at the event, Secunderabad Cantonment Board vice-president J. Rama Krishna, said, “By Wednesday, we will conduct an inspection. If the roads are not opened by the Local Military Authority (LMA), we will escalate the issue to the highest levels through proper channels.”

He said a proposal had been made to have a joint survey along with military officials and elected representatives.

The two-day meeting of the All Cantonments Citizens Welfare Associations, (ACCiWA or Cantt India was chaired by Cantt India’s core committee chairman M.L. Agarwal. The resolutions of the meeting will be forwarded to the defence ministry.

Cantt India will form a cantonment reforms committee to examine and make suggestions which might resolve the problems faced by residents. The committee would consist of parliamentarians, legal experts and representatives of the associations.

The meeting at Hyderabad was attended by delegates from 22 cantonments under five military commands. The common problems pertaining to the cantonments were discussed at the conference.

Cantt India secretary Jeetender Surana said, “Not just roads, there are many other problems like delay in building permissions, no ownership of land in the cantonment area. Democratisation of the cantonment is needed.”

Questions were raised on how the Local Military Authority could review the road closures without opening all the roads in the cantonment in the first place.