HYDERABAD: Despite orders issued by the Ministry of Defence to reopen five closed roads in Secunderabad, several restrictions on the flow of traffic still exist on these roads, said the Federation of North Eastern Colonies (FNEC).
The federation opposed the statements from the officials of the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) that they did not receive any applications from individuals or resident welfare associations for restoring RTC bus services on these roads.
The special concern in the area has been public transportation, including RTC buses and shared autos which used to ply between Lakdawala Junction on Rajiv Rahadari and Balaji Nagar or Yapral via Richardson Road before the roads were abruptly closed by local military authorities for almost 10 years.
In this regard, the FNEC points out that this statement of SCB officials is totally incorrect and stated that as recently as on May 2 and May 4, FNEC had written to the Chief Executive Officer SCB, pointing out the problem even after the roads had supposedly been reopened.
They emphasised in their complaint that there were still roadblocks and other restrictions on many of the roads preventing the free movement of the public.
Some of these restrictions include height restriction bars and movable barriers at Lakdawala on Richardson Road, Protnee Road closed at night on the Rajiv Rahadari side, signboards at several places on the roads, and the submission of identity proofs.
They highlighted with relevant pictures that the RTC buses and other modes of public transport, pedestrians, and cyclists are not allowed on the roads.
FNEC requested military authorities to ensure that all restrictions to the flow of traffic on these roads are removed, and all manner of traffic is allowed to use the roads as was the situation prior to road closure.
The federation mentioned in the complaint that in their subject letter, DGDE has communicated their decision about opening certain roads in various cantonments but no further conditions are specified in these orders for any category of traffic, nor procedures for checking any other protocol are specified either. However, the orders have been followed only partially in Secunderabad Cantonment.