Voices grow for SCB, GHMC merger

Secunderabad: The long-pending demand for the merger of civilian areas of Secunderabad Cantonment Board with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) seems to echo everywhere. About 90 per cent of SCB residents are in favour for merger. According to sources, the merger of SCB with GHMC will see the light of day, but might take long.

As per sources, there are also talks that very soon, may be next month, a few residential welfare associations along with representatives of Cantonment Vikas Manch, an NGO, local leaders and also a few higher authorities of the State government may visit New Delhi to submit the representation to Minister of Defence regarding the opening of 21 roads in SCB.

On the condition of anonymity, a senior official from SCB said, "This matter is not something that happens as a daily procedure. There is a standard procedure for this. The State government should reach out to Central government, a foolproof document should be presented with the pros and cons of the merger. It is a time-taking process as the Ministry of Defence should denotify the Cantonment from army control and then handover it to the local body."

"Cantonments lag far behind in terms of both democratic strength and professional versatility. Still, the British-time development and rules are being followed. SCB is the biggest among all the 62 Cantonments in India, but still, lacks basic civic facilities. GHMC's building plan approval is so simple because they clear the application soon after scrutiny, with just 7.5 per cent registration fee. But in SCB, to clear the application, it takes months and they charge 11 per cent registration fee. Always due to fund crunch, they lag behind in development. Further, the GHMC has citizen charter, whereas SCB lacks one. Even basic facilities like roads, medical facilities and sanitation are a far cry for people residing in Cantonment area," said T Satish Kumar, president of Vasavi Nagar, SCB.

"Merger is the only solution to see proper development. No civil works can proceed without the permission of the Central government. For the last several years, no development has been taken place, no proper town planning, no proper construction permissions were given, roads are very narrow, also there are no proper health centres, there is no proper infrastructure and also sanitary part in SCB is worst compared to GHMC, as there is no proper equipment to clean the Nala. Apart from this, 21 roads that are been closed by local military authorities are not only affecting the residents of SCB, but also those residing in GHMC limit. If it gets merged with GHMC, then just like the western corridor, the northern corridor will also witness rapid development. We have also planned to meet the Ministry of Defence officials very soon regarding the road closure issue. We urged Secunderabad MLA G Sayanna to present a proposal of merger of SCB in the Assembly," said Ambala Srinivas, executive member of Cantonment Vikas Manch.