Army blocks Trimulgherry-Marredpally road in Secunderabad for civilians

The recent spate of incidents in Secunderabad cantonment against the law of the land saddens the hearts of the people of Secunderabad. 2013 was a glorious year for civil-military relations in the history of India, the world watched these events with awe and respect when the holy shrines in Uttarkhand came in the spate of fury of nature due to manmade triggers of massive environmental degradation by a govt and civil agencies unmindful of the grim reality that those hills and areas are fragile and unstable. The images of Lt General Anil Chait- Army Commander Central Command and army units , army aviation units, special forces( para-commandoes) and Air Force units swinging into action overnight to rescue lakhs of residents and pilgrims trapped in floods, landslides and inland Tsunami flashed as satellite images, photographs, statements and stories across the globe : the image of Indian Army as brave, dedicated, selfless and tireless ‘Saviour’ of the people emerged, living up to its ethos of Seva Parmo Dharma.

The nation and the world watched with bathed breath as death defying helicopters, foot teams and paratroopers along with paramilitary police elements like ITBP rescued thousands each day. These indelible images flashed into each home, hut, shanty and high-rise building and even on cell phone screens in the hands of rich and poor of an emotional but proud, connected and wired India. Three star Lieutenant General Anil Chait’s pledge - ‘I am with you’ ; and his long walk of many kilometers with the old, sick and weak pilgrims to safety when inclement weather prevented air effort and vehicles were unable to reach will remain a glorious & golden chapter in the history of India.

In stark contrast the residents of Secunderabad have the misfortune to endure a radically opposite leadership, attitude and treatment by Generals SM Mehta, A Pithawala and Brigadier Sunil Bodhe, in Secunderabad cantonment. The arbitrary decision and proclamation of blocking of roads in the cantonment area and the negative impact on the lives of lakhs of residents, on their quality of life, livelihood, freedom to commute and much more damagingly on the vulnerable school children is unlawful, illegal and inhuman, against the law of the land, cantonment act, army act and the Constitution of India’s enshrined personal freedoms to citizens of India.

In ignorance , defiance or sheer callous indifference of the law and social norms ( that prevention of blockage of paths of birds, animals, tribal paths, foot paths, routes, kutcha roads or right of passage) the lifeline roads are being blocked by ‘Force’. The point of law is that all land in India belongs to the people of India and the central govt has reserved some for its own use and a portion of this is placed under the administrative care of the Ministry of Defence and looked after them by the Defence Estates Officer. Areas in India where the imperial British Indian Army were residing were placed under the resident, later collector and after passing of the Cantonments’ Act and Army Act 1950 were placed under the care of the CEO of cantonment. The main residents were military people, their families and associated small commercial establishments and to ensure smoother relations the local Sub Area Commander ( sub areas don’t fight and do not go to war) was made ex-officio chairman of the cantonment board primarily to facilitate hygiene & sanitation, cleanliness, water supply, primary health, recreation and many functions that are performed by municipal bodies. The meager revenue and tax matters were also placed in the care of the cantonment board. Shockingly the actions of the above three senior officers demonstrate the illegal stand that cantonment land belongs to the army and therefore they are its masters, to do as they deem fit and hence we face this avoidable imbroglio.

Fact: There are NO DEFENCE Roads in India, however there are Border Roads built by GREF and Border Roads organization that maintains them but CANNOT DENY THE RIGHT OF MOVEMENT TO ANY PERSON. Fact: The Army does Not own the cantonments. Fact: Army officers do Not have any powers over the civil population of India. Fact : No army officer can order a armed jawan to act against any civilian, woman or child in India , under any circumstances , what so ever. Fact: The state govt is responsible for the law and order and all other responsibilities of legal, administrative and financial nature in twin cities. Fact :Denial of the right of passage is a civil offence. Fact : The use of armed force or implied threat of armed force is a criminal act punishable by law.Fact : AOC Centre jawans living and training areas are All on one side of the road. Fact : Not a single jawan has been injured or died as a result of hit and run or road accident as recorded in Police Station Marredpally, because Army Act and IPC mandate that any such incident will be recorded with local police for legal and financial reasons. Fact : Roads are Not blocked in Delhi. Meerut, Ambala – worlds largest cantonments nor in the scores of smaller cantonments across the length and breadth of India, NOT even in J&K, Nagaland and other disturbed areas under the Disturbed Areas and Armed Forces Special Powers Acts. Fact : Andhra Sub Area and MCEME with hundreds of senior army officers cannot plead ignorance of the above facts which are common knowledge.

The much more damaging and illegal action is to use Force or the threat of force against the residents and transients who are the citizens of India and Andhra Sub Areas three officers are wrong in enforcing the above illegal action. The Constitution of India, Army Act and Army instructions promulgated in a rule called Aid to Civil Authority clearly state the circumstances and conditions where the army can be used to aid civil administration in the event of civil disturbances or natural calamities as happened in 2013 example mentioned above. This use of the army for aid to civil authority comes with the inbuilt constitutional and administrative control of written Sanction of Central and State Govt for specific tasking, time and area. A general cannot order jawans with weapons- that to automatic and semi-automatic weapons to menance, threaten or act against any citizen of India, the Law expressedly forbids this , legislated after the 13 April 1919 massacre at Jallianwalla, Amritsar of hundreds of civilians by General Dwyer. However, this can and does happen in Pakistan !! But Secunderabad is in Andhra Pradesh nee Telengana and the Honourable High Court of AP may take suo- moto cognizance this serious, blatant and inhuman offence being committed with sheer effrontery. Alternatively every citizen is with their legal and constitutional right to seek civil and criminal redress from the courts to demand, removal of illegal road blockage, QRTs and armed jawans pointed against innocent defenseless civilians, women and school going children. This is military rule or martial law?

If Mr X owns/rents or resides in two houses located opposite to each other with a road inbetween- can he become the owner of this road ? How is AOC centre being used to further this argument. The AOC, EME and Artillery Centre’s should have been moved out of Secunderabad decades back when they ceased to have the firing ranges and training areas required for training recruits by day and night.Against policy and plans to the contrary they sit here in Secunderabad paying lipservice to training because the senior officers enjoy the perks of living in the heart of a metro, often indulging in real estate and private commercial transactions. Another more recent and disturbing trend has been few blacksheep senior officers of the army grabbing land and using it for personal gain. The Sukhna and Adarsh land scams are in legal and public domain where generals have been thwarted from dishonest and illegal grabbing of prime land. The escape route of such illegal schemes is that generals quietly handover land to commercial developers for a cut and move out either on posting and retirement later pleading ignorance. Civil and criminal cases must be registered by name with caveat of personal appearance and compounded compensation for losses incurred by inconvenienced /aggrieved parties.

These 6 lakhs residents are voters who have become victims of this act of illegal armed aggression they constitute the Telegana belt of the suburbs of Secunderabad and Congress/KCR will never be ready to pay such a heavy price when people protest this injustice at the ballot box in coming 99 days. We hope Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Mr KCR, Mr Anthony and even General Bikram Singh are listening and act swiftly to nip this illegal action in the bud, before logical and inevitable action by thousands of aggrieved citizens to move criminal and civil cases which will choke the already overloaded judiciary. The Govts of AP and Telengana would do well to immediately move the army out of Secunderabad to areas where threat of Maoist influence is present, thus wisely kill two birds with one stone. Such a proposal of moving army centres and training establishments has worked to defeat insurgency effectively in nearby states. Also the thousands of crores of subsidy, tax, VAT and excise concessions given to the Army in Secunderabad represent a huge loss of revenue to AP state and enjoyed by the generals as cheap scotch whiskey, rum and cars must be immediately withdrawn in these times of resource crunch. Lastly the legal and administrative authorities must get a CAG audit done to unearth how Andhra Sub Area is running a commercial Golf Club under the disguise of Bison Ecological Park and how MCEME has constructed a Golf Course in its campus?