Hyderabad: Commuters are accused of speeding, rash driving, honking, overtaking illegally and other traffic offences on the newly reopened Cantonment roads.
This kind of traffic indiscipline among civilians could weaken the fight to keep all roads open and is likely to be used as substantial evidence by the local military authorities to close the roads to civilian traffic. Civilians up in arms against the military authorities for denying them entry should make sure they change the way they drive, and stick to the rules.
Following the re-opening of 11 arterial roads in the Secunderabad Cantonment, army jawans are video recording civilians on some of the cantonment roads like Golf Course and Bolarum road and restricting their entry on the count of rash driving, exceeding the speed limit etc. Sources say the local military authorities will report this to the Defence ministry.
When this newspaper correspondent told citizen welfare organisations who have been relentlessly fighting the road closure about the traffic violations, the welfare group said it would start an awareness campaign. Resident organisations are not equipped to tackle those violating traffic rules, but “if this continues, we will sit together and come up with plans to increase awareness on travel sense especially for those who are taking the Cantonment route,” said Gulshan Bamboat, a member of Green Sainikpuri.
Another resident from Yapral – Sainikpuri, Malcolm Wolfe, a road safety consultant, said, “It is right for the military to put in place reasonable restrictions and make free passage for civilians without compromising their security. Taking photos and videos of traffic if done for the cause of road safety is a good idea, but there again it should be legal and done with politeness and respect.”
Major Shiva Kiran, an ex Army officer, said, “Army uses this area for their training purposes and their families live here, so they have the right to restrict the space in terms of their security and safety. With the opening of all these roads, the security has been compromised, so at the least they can monitor the roads.”
Major Kiran points out that the army is used to obeying rules and enforces them strongly. Most of the Cantonment roads are silent zones and people must be considerate and avoid unnecessary honking and rash driving, he said.
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