Secunderabad: Their voices unheard, people wage silent stir

Secunderabad: Once again, the road closure issue has enraged residential welfare associations (RWAs) in the northern and the eastern parts of Secunderabad, including Bolarum, Sainikpuri, Yapral Trimulgherry. With their fervent pleas unheard from any quarter, a vexed public has hit the streets and staged a silent candlelight protest, which would be held on weekends, over the 'illegal closures' of SCB roads by the Local Military Authority (LMA).

People are outraged that roads are being closed often without following due procedure, affecting people of all walks of life, especially amidst a raging pandemic. Many netizens are urging Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to intervene and resolve the issue.

"Even senior citizens, women and children are taking part in the protest and raising their voice against the road closures. Every Sunday for the past three weeks, we have been protesting as 21 roads out of 25 roads in SCB were closed by the LMA. Especially during the pandemic, the impact is quite severe on the people. We strict implementation of the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the Ministry of Defence in SCB areas," said CS Chandrasekhar, Secretary, Federation of North-Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad.

"Hundreds of residents of northern and eastern parts of Secunderabad are suffering a lot due to road closure. We the residents of Tirumala Enclave unanimously came on the road for the protest of illegal road closure in Secunderabad yesterday. We request Defence Minister to intervene and reopen all 21 the roads closed illegally, "said Rajsheakar Reddy, president of Tirumala Enclave.

As many roads are closed, the remaining ones are witnessing a huge traffic, causing hardships to commuters, according to Reynold Das, a resident of Railway Employees Colony, Macha Bolarum.

The authorities working on alternative roads must ensure that they are connected to almost all the areas. The central government should understand the plight of commuters, observed Murali Krishna, working president of Federation of New Bolarum Colonies Welfare Association, (FNBC).

The intervention of none other than Defence Minister is needed to open the roads for commuters as the public are facing a lot of difficulties, feels Simhadri, president of Federation of New Bolarum Colonies Welfare Association, (FNBC).