KTR urges Rajnath to issue directions to reopen roads in Secunderabad Cantonment

The closure of Secunderabad Cantonment roads by the Local Military Authority (LMA), denying freedom of movement to civilians, has elicited a strong response from IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, who said on Wednesday that the LMA’s behaviour was ‘extremely strange’.

Responding to tweets from the public and organisations like Green Sainikpuri, Rao said this was ‘extremely strange behaviour despite repeated requests from Govt of Telangana and the local residents’. In a tweet, he requested Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to intervene and issue instructions to the local Cantonment officials to avoid inconvenience to public.

The controversy over the LMA unceremoniously closing roads in the Cantonment for use by civilians cropped up after a lull on Tuesday when the LMA began restricting civilians from using the Valerian Grammar School road towards



Yapral.

Several persons, along with Green Sainikpuri, also wrote to and tagged Rajnath Singh in tweets, requesting him to intervene in the issue. They pointed out that the Ministry of Defence and the Chief of Army Staff had issued orders preventing the LMA from closing roads without following proper procedure.

Green Sainikpuri has demanded that public representatives including SCB Vice President J Ramakrishna, the local MLA and MP should call for a special board meeting of the Cantonment to sort out the issue.

Meanwhile, responding to a tweet suggesting that the Cantonment should be made part of the government’s plans for an integrated master plan for civic bodies like the GHMC, Cyberabad and HMDA, KTR said he agreed with the suggestion that Secunderabad Cantonment needs to be part of the consolidated master plan.