Hyderabad: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured Secunderabad Cantonment Board representatives that the remaining roads will be reopened soon in accordance with the laws, and that she was closely watching the issue,
She was speaking to elected members of the SCB who met her along with MP Ch. Malla Reddy to discuss issues pertaining to the SCB. Board vice-president J. Rama Krishna said the delegation had received a nod for most of its proposals. Regarding the joint survey of closed roads by the Local Military Authority (LMA) and SCB members, Mr Rama Krishna said, “As the Army official concerned is on leave, we could not hold it. We will still try for that.”
Mr Victor Das, committee member of Holy Trinity Church, said, “We have been suffering a lot because of the road closure. Though the defence minister gave orders on May 20, the LMA has not reopened the roads. We doubt whether the roads will be opened at all.”
Apart from road closures, the major issues that the SCB members discussed with Ms Sitharaman were building bye-laws, protection of defence land parcels from encroachment, transfer policies and exchange of defence land which are occupied by slum dwellers with the state government.
The delegation also brought up the notice of reclassifying B4 and B3 lands, the Smart Cantonment project, amending of rules to allow construction on C category lands and Swacch Bharat.
The board members told Ms Sitharaman that the building bye-laws were more than 80 years old and not suited to modern needs. “There is a demand from residents to revise bye-laws to bring them in consonance with modern urban requirements. The board had approved the revised bye-laws in October 2017 and sent proposals for approval. All clarifications have been provided,” the delegation told the minister. Board members requested Ms Sitharaman to allot Rs 50 crore to the SCB for this financial year as pending service charges. The Army owes SCB Rs 466 crore on account of service charges. Not all Central government schemes are implemented in cantonment limits. The SCB representatives made another proposal on implementation of national development schemes and policies for the residents of cantonment boards.
