Merger of Secunderabad Cantonment Board with GHMC in the offing

Hyderabad: Constitution of a committee to separate civil areas from military areas in the Secunderabad Cantonment Board is on the cards, according to a circular from the ministry of Defence to the secretary, Telangana ministry of administration and urban development.

The letter, issued on 4 January, is doing the rounds of the Resident Welfare Associations of Secunderabad as they are the most affected by the closure of roads and lack of connectivity to the main city.

The RWAs have been demanding better connectivity in terms of wider roads, metro rail, and others to the main city areas.

The letter to the government of Telangana states that:

· A committee is to be formed to look into the details of proposed modalities for the excision of land and immovable assets.

· The composition of Secunderabad Cantonment Board, its employees, pensioners, cantonment funds, civic services, movable properties, road and traffic management to be looked into.

Union Minister G Kishan Reddy of DoNER, Culture and Tourism in a press conference in New Delhi said, "This is a very good step for the residents of North Eastern colonies as it will take up the development works and also ensure benefits of all the schemes are provided to the people. The state government and central government can now take up works in this area which was otherwise difficult."

Kishen Reddy

What does this mean for people living in Secunderabad and beyond?

It means that the process of separating the civil areas under the Cantonment Board from Cantonment and merging them with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has begun, opined Pankaj Sethi, a senior resident and member of Federation of North Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad.

The committee is set up to identify and give recommendations on various issues that will crop up as a result of the separation.

Sethi opined, "Essentially, Secunderabad Cantonment Board may cease to exist or become a much smaller entity."

This order is a good progress and the credit goes to both State and Centre, opined C S Chandrashekar of Federation of North Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad.

Will this tackle the issue of road closures in the military area?

This is a million-dollar question for the residents of the North Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad. With 21 roads closed, they are keen that this problem must be solved. The connectivity to the city must improve and this order will pave the way for road widening and also traffic signals and street lights in most of the areas.

A meeting that bore fruit

It may be recalled that on 29 December 2022, chief secretary Somesh Kumar met defence secretary A. Giridhar seeking the transfer of defence lands. The crux of the meeting was to provide better connectivity to the people from SCB and beyond to the main city. With Hyderabad and Secunderabad expanding, the issue of connectivity via defence lands is important. This order from the ministry of defence to the government of Telangana indicates that it has borne a fruitful result.