Locals upset over one-year extension of Secunderabad Cantonment Board amid civic woes
No local body elections have been conducted in the SCB after the announcement of the merger
By - Kaniza Garari
File Photo
Hyderabad: With the Secunderabad Cantonment Board getting an extension of another year, the locals are upset as there is no end to their woes of civic problems in the area.
The official announcement of 55 cantonment boards across India by the Union Ministry of Defence has got locals upset.
4 lakh residents await merger with Greater Hyderabad
The resident associations are upset that their problems will not be solved.
Jitender Surana, Secretary of All India Cantonment Citizen Welfare Association, Secunderabad Cantonment, said, “The government has extended the term for one year from February 10 to February 11, 2027. This is not good news for the four lakh residents of Secunderabad Cantonment who demand a merger with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. We are paying taxes and want proper facilities.”
Cantonment residents pay more stamp duty
The extension is seen as a major setback for the proposed merger of civilian areas into the GHMC. While the Telangana government issued a No Objection Certificate (NoC) for the merger in 2023, the process has remained in a state of administrative paralysis.
MLA Ganesh Narayanan explained, “Residents in Secunderabad Cantonment pay 12 per cent in stamp duty compared to the 7.5 per cent in GHMC areas. There has not been a single meeting since the merger was announced by the defence ministry. But civilians are facing problems and those must be solved. The funds of MLA are not enough to solve these problems, as there are so many infrastructure issues that a huge pool of resources is required.”
No elections
No local body elections have been conducted in the SCB after the announcement of the merger.
Ganesh said, “Since 2020, there have been no elections in this division. Since there is no one elected, the civic problems of the people of the area are not resolved. We are demanding an immediate merger with GHMC, as that will help to solve the issues of the people.”
What should be done?
The resident associations stated, “The Army, Union Ministry of Defence and State government must convene regular meetings to ensure that the transition process is constant. Only then will the merger be seen in the next year. If there are no meetings, there will be no outcome. Residents cannot suffer like this forever; both Central and State governments have to come up with a solution to this problem.”
