HYDERABAD: Residents in Secunderabad’s Cantonment area were in for a shock on Tuesday, as another road was allegedly closed down by the Local Military Authority (LMA) without prior notice. Commuters were stopped from using the road at Valerian Grammer School which connects Bolarum to East Yapral.
They claimed that the Army personnel posted there said that they have received orders from the Army headquarters to close the road for civilians.
The residents wondered how can the local military authority (LMA) close the road without prior notice causing a lot of inconvenience to local residents who use the road regularly. The affected areas include Bolarum, East Yapral, Hakimpet, Alwal and Lothukunta. Meanwhile, the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) too remained clueless.
When contacted, the SCB officials said they were unaware of the matter. “We have tried to reach the Defence officials but they have not informed us about any road closure. We are trying to get in touch with the officials but as of now we are unaware of the issue,” SCB vice president J Ramakrishna said. Despite several attempts to reach out to SCB’s CEO SVR Chandrasekhar, the official was unavailable for comment. A resident of Secunderabad Cantonment area on condition of anonymity said, “As per the rules laid by the Defence Ministry, the public should be made aware of the road closure.”
The road closure is an age-old issue for the resident of Secunderabad Cantonment area. Earlier the residents staged protests when roads were closed for civilians forcing them to take long detours. As a result of these protests, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) last year has issued an order asking the LMA to reopen all the closed roads in the area.