Hope blooms: Reopening of 5 vital roads brings relief to SCB residents

Hyderabad: Following the long and arduous struggle, the Local Military Authority (LMA) has finally relented and reopened five of the six vital thoroughfares that were previously off-limits to the civilian populace of Secunderabad Cantonment and surrounding areas. This long-awaited decision has brought much-needed relief to the beleaguered residents of the area who have long been deprived of unfettered access to these key arteries.

The walls of Lakdawala Junction and Ammuguda Road were demolished on Saturday midnight, following the Ministry of Defence (MoD) issuing orders on April 20 to reopen Richardson Road, Protnee Road, Byam Road, Albain Road, and Ammuguda Road.

Locals had been suffering since the roads were suddenly closed in 2014 and remained illegally closed, despite the MoD’s 2018 decision to reopen all closed roads in all cantonments. These five roads are among the 21 public roads that have been closed within the Cantonment limits, causing immense hardship for lakh of commuters. The reopening of these roads is a small victory for the commuters traveling through these stretches.

C.S Chandrashekar, Secretary of Federation of Northern-Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad, said, “We are glad that blockade on five roads in the Golf Course area in Secunderabad have been removed by the LMA, in line with reopening orders for these roads issued last week by MoD. Though it remains to be seen when and if traffic will be fully restored through these roads, the removal of these blockades is a major step towards easing the tremendous inconvenience faced by citizens staying in the Northeastern part of the city while commuting to the rest of the city.”

The removal of these blockades will significantly reduce the distance between Balajinagar, Yapral, Rajiv Rahadari, Nagpur Highway, Sainikpuri, A S Rao, Bolarum, Nagpur Highway, Shamirpet, and more. This will benefit colleges, schools, devotees of Ayyappa Swamy Temple, Holy Trinity Church, and other commuters. This should also decongest the perennially jammed Lothukunta Circle.

Jeetendra Surana, Secretary of Secunderabad Cantonments Citizens Welfare Association (SCCiWA), said, “With the opening of these five roads, it is a partial success, it’s been our consistent struggle to reopen all these roads and finally, we saw a logical conclusion, and finally, these roads are opened. The citizens of SCB will continue our fight till the remaining roads are opened.”

Madhukar Naik, CEO, SCB, said, “The opening of these roads has brought relief to commuters who were struggling to commute. From the Cantonment Board side, we have requested LMA to open the road without any hindrances. I think that there would be no stern restrictions in these stretches.”