Hyderabad: The Director-General of Defence Estates (DGDE) has asked the Southern Principal Director (DE) for a detailed investigation by the Secunderabad Cantonment Board CEO to find out whether the roads closed by the Local Military Authorities are ‘unit line roads’ or roads used by civilians and submit a report by May 10, 2018.
The letter is a result of the meeting held between vice-presidents of 60 Cantonments spread across states and the Raksha Mantri held on May 4.
The DGDE, ministry of defence in a letter dated May 7, 2018, has written to defence estate (Southern command) on the subject of closure of roads in Cantonment boards.
It said it is “intimated that all DE have given the information regarding the closure of roads in Cantonment in response to the DGDE. There are certain issues which need to be clarified immediately”.
The DGDE that perused the reported submitted said, “Of the list given by Cantonment for the roads which have been closed by the LMA without following due procedure (completely or partially) it is mentioned in some cases as A-1 land and C-land. It needs to be clarified whether these roads were being used by civilians public or not before closure & whether vehicular traffic was allowed or not.”
The letter further read, “In most cases, where roads on A-1 land have been closed, LMA generally term those as ‘unit line road’. It needs to be ascertained by CEO (SCB), whether these roads are unit line roads or not.”
The DGDE demanded a details investigation and submit a compiled report by May 10, 2018.
Those affected welcomed the move of DGDE, members of the Federation of North Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad said, “Already a detailed report with evidence-backed representation has been submitted to the MoD. The report shows that the closed roads were all public roads, and closed in violation of section 258 of Cantonments Act, 2006.”
