Hyderabad: Following an assurance from defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman that civilians can bring the issue of Cantonment roads closures to her, some civilians from the Secunderabad Cantonment Board area have sent a detailed report on the status of the reopening of roads and the difficulties that they are facing in accessing roads.
As many as eight roads still remain closed even after ministry of defence orders to reopen all roads. The four walls built to block roads are still intact.
The residents’ report has a detailed account on what roads were closed according to the submission of the SCB Chief Executive Officer along with additional inputs from the ground.
The Federation for North Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad (FNECS) said in the report, “Citing security as the reason for closing roads does not make any sense, as in each case those roads have access via some other open road.”
The report raised concerns over the restrictions that were in place.
“There have been several instances of military police stopping vehicles on the road claiming that the vehicles are speeding. It is not known under what authority they stop vehicles in this manner, and whether speed guns they claim to be using are calibrated and are being used as per standard protocol. No speed limits are any way posted on these roads,” the letter said.
It was requested from the ministry of defence to take immediate steps to rectify all this by ensuring that there is a clear and unequivocal compliance with its orders. It requested the minister to depute a team to study the factual situation on the ground with people who got affected from the closure of roads.
