Union Minister’s statement rekindles Cantonment road closure controversy 

Hyderabad: Taking up the issue of closed roads in the Secunderabad Cantonment once again, the Federation of Northeastern Colonies of Secunderabad has alleged that the Ministry of Defence was unable to get the Local Military Authority here to comply with its instructions. The road closure issue, which has been a burning topic in the Cantonment […]

Hyderabad: Taking up the issue of closed roads in the Secunderabad Cantonment once again, the Federation of Northeastern Colonies of Secunderabad has alleged that the Ministry of Defence was unable to get the Local Military Authority here to comply with its instructions.

The road closure issue, which has been a burning topic in the Cantonment for quite some time now, came up again after a reply from Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha on April 1 from Gopal Chinnayya Shetty. The Mumbai North MP wanted to know whether there were instances of alleged harassment and exploitation of civilians by defence officials in cantonment areas and also on the action taken.

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In his reply, Bhatt said there was no case of exploitation of civilians, however, ‘certain references/representations relating to inconvenience due to closure of roads by Local Military Authorities’ were received from residents in a few Cantonments like Secunderabad (Telangana), Danapur (Bihar), Kamptee (Maharashtra), Belgaum (Karnataka), Saugor (Madhya Pradesh) and Jalandhar (Punjab).

He also said the MoD had issued detailed instructions to all concerned authorities for compliance vide letter dated September 4, 2018.

The Federation, on its Twitter handle @greensainikpuri, said the Minister had now admitted road closures in Cantonments, including Secunderabad. With the MoD issuing instructions in 2018, it was now clear that lack of compliance was the problem, the Federation said, asking whether the Defence Ministry was toothless and unable to get instructions implemented by its own officials.

DAY 185

Minister @AjaybhattBJP4UK admits road closures in cantts (incl Secunderabad) but says MOD ISSUED "instructions" for compliance in 2018!

So have u left civilians like orphans?

A toothless @MoD_India unable to get instructions implemented by its own officials?@KTRTRS pic.twitter.com/wdY5gbOA1N

— Greensainikpuri (@greensainikpuri) April 4, 2022

CS Chandrashekhar, Secretary, Federation of Northeastern Colonies of Secunderabad, recalled that in December too, Bhatt said only one public road and one road on A1 land were closed, while truth was that 21 out of 27 roads in the Cantonment area were closed.