Hyderabad: The Telangana Joint Action Committee, which took a leading role in the separate Telangana agitation, on Sunday extended its support to the Open Secunderabad Cantonment Area Roads (OSCAR) to keep roads in the Cantonment area open.
It said that the roads would be closed to civilian traffic unless the agitation had the support of political leaders. Committee chairman Prof. Kodandaram said the TJAC would put pressure on all political leaders from Cantonment board members to MPs to secure their support.
Speaking at a round table meeting on AOC roads closure for civilians, Prof. Kodandaram said that as per the Cantonment Act, 2006, the only authority that could close defence roads for civilians was the local cantonment boards.
“Violating the Cantonment Act, defence officials have closed roads and imposed restrictions in the Secunderabad Cantonment Board. The power to roll back the decision is not with Delhi, it is with the Cantonment Board members,” he said.
TJAC coordinator Ramagiri Prakash said that the TJAC along with OSCAR and colony welfare associations would hold protest programmes at political leaders’ residences to secure their support.
“All political leaders from SCB members to the board vice-president and the local MLA and MP were invited to the round table meeting but no one turned up,” he said. OSCAR leader S. Chandrashekar said that after the closure of Cantonment roads, people from several colonies were having to travel long distances.
“Residents from Balajinagar Colony are travelling 8 km against 800 metres earlier. After defence the officials’ decision, connectivity between colonies located on the east and west of the Cantonment area has been closed,” he said.
Many OSCAR leaders including Pankaj Shetthi, Madhavi, Surana and others took part in the round-table meeting.
