Four Secunderabad cantonment roads restored; over 3.5 lakh people to benefit

Hyderabad: Ministry of Defence (MoD) has decided to restore four of the six routes in the Secunderabad cantonment that had been inaccessible to civilians for years.

This has provided relief to 3.5 lakh commuters who frequent these roads.

Last year, Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) said it will be shutting down six roadways.

SCCiWA and other civil society groups said the roads had been blocked for several years.

SCCiWA further stated that the roads remained closed unlawfully despite the Ministry of Defence's 2018 resolution.

Finally, it was noted that these advertisements appeared to be an attempt to conceal the illegality of road closures by pretending that the roads had never been blocked. There is no provision in the Cantonments Act for such post-event regularisation.

The commercials were also condemned by the state government and certain public leaders.

Protests by SCCiWA and others appear to have prompted the Ministry to decide to reopen four of the six highways.

These four roads are located in the Golf Course area.

Richardson Road connects Rajiv Rahadari's Lakdawala intersection to the Golf Course. This road was not only closed roughly 9 years ago but barriers were put over it.

Byam Road connects Eagle Chowk to the Golf Course via the Army Public School and the Batticaloa Canteen.

Ammuguda Road connects Ammuguda Junction with Batticaloa Canteen and subsequently to RSI Circle.

Protnee Road links Rajiv Rahadari to Gen Krishna Rao Marg at 1 EME Centre and is located just north of Cantonment Garden.

The curbs on Albion and Empress roads will remain in place.

These six stretches are among the 21 public highways restricted within the Cantonment, causing enormous difficulty for the lakhs of commuters that travel between the twin towns every day.

All of these routes had been operating for over 150 years until being abruptly decommissioned in 2014.

"We have been fighting since 2015, and today MOD has ordered to reopen four major roads, which would bring great relief to millions of people in the North Eastern Colonies. Freedom struggles always pay off," said C S Chandrashekhar, secretary of the Federation of Northern Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad.