HYDERABAD: Unmindful of the severe heartburn among the residents of the Secunderabad Cantonment over the illegal closure of 21 roads by the Local Military Authority (LMA), the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has decided to permanently close six roads covering 3.4 km.
‘’The LMA has illegally closed 21 roads, including these six roads in the Secunderabad Cantonment. Now to legalise the closure, the SCB has issued a public notice inviting objections and suggestions from the general public within 21 days,” Federation of Northern-Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad, Secretary, CS Chandra Shekar told Express.
The roads to be permanently closed include Ammuguda Road (500 metres) Byam Road (500 metres), Albain Road (700 metres), Empress Road (900 metres), Protenee Road (500 metres) and Richardson Road (300 metres). A notice to this effect was issued by the SCB Chief Executive Officer on Wednesday, giving 21 days to residents for submitting objections and suggestions.
“The residents will fight till the last closed road is opened for public transportation. We will take a mass signature campaign across the Secunderabad Cantonment during the next 21 days,” Shekar said.“These roads were closed several years ago. They are now trying to legalise the closure. We have been protesting all these years and the Union government gave a statement that none of the roads are closed,” Shekar said.
TRS leader M Krishank told Express that Cantonment residents in large numbers will file objections against the proposed permanent closure of the six roads. They will also demand that the SCB open all the closed roads for residents in the Cantonment area, he said.
Road closures have been causing immense inconvenience to the general public who are forced to take long routes resulting in loss of time and fuel. Even MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao had on many occasions expressed concern over the “illegal” closure of the 21 roads by the SCB and the inconvenience faced by commuters.
The Minister even said that the State would be forced to cut power and water to the LMA installations in the city if they continued harassment of the civilians. The harassment, he said, was by closing roads without following procedure.