HYDERABAD: At a time when the residents continue to complain against the closure of roads in the Secunderabad Cantonment area and pedestrians being stopped from taking the civilian roads, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials on Wednesday claimed otherwise and said that all roads in the area are open to the public at all times.
In a statement released by the officials through the ministry’s social media page, they also alleged that despite several incidents of their jawans being subjected to verbal humiliation and threats by the citizens, the jawans maintained decorum.
The statement was released by the Ministry of Defence, Hyderabad, after some residents alleged that commuters and pedestrians were being restricted from taking civilian roads in the Secunderabad Cantonment area. Responding to the plaints in a series of tweets, the ministry claimed that these allegations were malicious and all roads in the area remain open.
Meanwhile, denying the officials’ claim that citizens were misbehaving with the jawans, B T Srinivasan,
General Secretary, United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations said: “These allegations are untrue. We (the residents) always respect the army sentries on duty and have never argued or humiliated them.”
The residents also countered claims of the Cantonment roads being open to public. S Chandrashekar of Open Secunderabad Cantonment All Roads alleged that the ministry’s statement is just a cover-up operation.
“This statement is misleading as the MoD had asked to open all Cantonment roads, which the LMA officials didn’t do, subsequently violating the ministry’s directives,” he said.