HYDERABAD: With no progress on reopening of roads in the Secunderabad Cantonment area, the civilian residents are demanding holding of a special meeting of the board to discuss the road closure by the Local Military Authority(LMA). They allege that SCB officials and elected members are not furthering their cause.
This comes after defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman openly said the “LMA is not following the procedure of MoD.”At its recent meeting the SCB general body adopted a resolution on conducting a joint survey on May 6 this year on the closure of roads. And, SCB officials decided to approach the General-Officer-Commanding (GOC), Telangana and Andhra Sub Area, to seek reopening of 14 of the 25 roads that remain closed to civilians.
According to Section 258 of Cantonments Act, 2006 the roads in the area administered by the cantonment board are meant to be open but that does not seem to be the case here. The ministry of defence has recently ordered reopening of the roads. It may be noted here that in Belgaum in Karnataka, Cantonment Board’s elected members and officials have demolished the barricades set up on the roads there.
S Chandrasekhar, spokesman of Open Secunderabad Cantonment All Roads (OSCAR), said, “ Why can’t SCB officials and elected members discuss the issue of road closure? .” He appealed to board members and officials to conduct a special board meeting to discuss reopening of all roads by the LMA.