Secunderabad: FNECS sends suggestion regarding road closures

Secunderabad: As recently Government of India had published the Draft Cantonment Land Administration Rules 2021 in the Gazette of India and also invited suggestions and objections from general public to these draft rules.

In response to Government's invitation, Federation of Northeastern Colonies of Secunderabad (FNECS) has sent its suggestions on behalf of citizens affected by road closures on Wednesday.

"These suggestions are being made by FNECS in the background of its long struggle against illegal and arbitrary closure of public roads in cantonment by Local Military Authorities (LMA).

Such closures continue in spite of the fact that under Cantonments Act, LMA have no authority to close public roads. Recognizing this, Ministry of Defence (MoD) took a decision in May 2018 to reopen all cantonment roads closed by LMA anywhere in the country.

However LMA ignored the AHQ orders and MoD SOP. Whenever the locals questioned, they say that the roads closed by them are A1 roads over which public do not have right of way. They also say that AHQ orders and MoD SOP do not apply to "A1" roads," said Chandar Shekar, Secretary of Federation of North Eastern Colonies, Secunderabad.

He further said that we have suggested that the new Cantonment Land Administration Rules (CLAR) should specify public Right of Way on 'A1' roads in the main text of the Rules itself to avoid confusion and misinterpretation. This may be done by including the clarifications to Rules 3, 5 and 13 of CLAR 1937 in the main text of Rules 3,5 and 13 in CLAR 2021.

FNECS requests MoD to incorporate its suggestions in the final CLAR 2021. This will bring clarity on public Right of Way on "A1" roads and will help relieve citizens of the nightmare of closed roads. FNECS also takes this opportunity to request Telangana Government to take up these suggestions with MoD in order to ensure that they are included in the new CLAR.