Military barriers delay Secunderabad Cantonment Board's road to normalcy

SECUNDERABAD: Though the ministry of defence (MoD) has directed the SCB chief executive officer to reopen the five public roads "with immediate effect", there is likely to be a delay of another week in executing the orders. This, as the local military authority (LMA) has raised permanent boundary walls on two of the stretches - Richardson Road and Ammuguda Road - to block civilians from using them.
On April 20, a letter issued by additional DG (Cantt), Sonam Yangdol, instructed the CEO of Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) to immediately reopen Richardson Road, Ammuguda Road, Byam Road, Albian Road and Protnee Road, that have remained shut for years.

"While the other three are internal roads and will be accessible to all from now, we have intimated local defence authorities about pulling down the compound walls on the other two that are arterial stretches," a senior SCB official told TOI. "Once they clear the blockades, civilian traffic movement will be allowed on them as well," he added.
Confirming this D Madhukar Naik, CEO, SCB said, "We have received the MoD orders and are coordinating with LMA to reopen the roads as early as possible." Asked if commuters will have to follow and norms after roads are reopened, he said, "The guidelines will be taken care of by the local army".
Meanwhile, TOI accessed the two key reports that led the MoD to issue the recent order. One of them was submitted by the CEO of SCB that highlighted, using Google maps, how critical they were for commuters. "In the recent past, Secunderabad Cantonment has seen rapid growth and around 800 residential colonies have been developed. As a result, heavy volume of traffic is seen on these six roads. Lakhs of commuters are facing hardship, mainly employees working in software companies and private firms, due to closure of roads," the report stated detailing the detours that motorists had to take to reach their destination.
The joint commissioner of police (traffic), Hyderabad who submitted a report highlighted the volume of traffic during peak hours on these six roads, also played a key role. It was drafted after interacting with daily commuters and private taxi drivers who spoke about the difficulties faced due to detours.