Army closes roads for public

Residents protest the inconvenience

Giving a rude shock to the residents of Ramakrishnapuram, the Secunderabad Military Station had set up a blockade on the Trimulgherry- Lal Bazaar road on Saturday morning. The inconvenience was instantaneous. Parents who wanted to take their children to schools like KV Trimulgherry, St Joseph's and Holy Family High School had to hunt for an alternative route. Adding to the inconvenience was the sudden downpour on the same morning.

The Army has blocked the direct approach way towards Lal Bazaar from RK Puram. The same has been the scenario at Trimulgherry; the parallel route to main road towards Lal Bazaar has been blocked. A few roads at Marredpally have been barricaded and there are chances that the route towards Secunderabad via Marredpally might be blocked.

Sampath, a resident from Shakti Nagar, drops his children every morning at KV Trimulgherry. His usual route takes about two km. But on Saturday morning he was asked to take a roundabout route.

“I am not comfortable with these sorts of instant rules. And beyond everything this will take a toll of the safety of children. The only alternative route for children studying in these schools is the main road. The military folks must understand the gravity of the issue. Children would walk in groups on these roads. I am concerned about my daughter. She is young to be aware of all traffic rules and safety measures. And there are hundreds of young children like my daughter who will have to suffer,” Sampath lamented.

Reacting to the inconvenience, on Sunday morning, residents of Ramakrishnapuram, Asha Officer’s Colony, Gandhi Nagar and Shakti Nagar staged a protest on the RK Puram- Lal Bazaar stretch, which had a blockade by Army men. After thorough checking and only after displaying identity proof of any sort of allegiance with the Army, any person would be allowed to pass through the blockade.

Irked by the move, over 200 residents of the colony staged a protest. Ivan Lendl, a resident of Gandhi Nagar said, “The Army is taking law into their own hands and are humiliating our fundamental rights. We are all Indians.” The residents alleged that armed personnel threatened them to withdraw the protest.

MLA P Shankar Rao and few SCB officials joined the protesters to express their cohesion with the residents.

In response to the protest by commuters and residents of Ramakrishnapuram, the Secunderabad Military Station issued a press release stating, “To tide over the current traffic problems after due deliberation and evaluation of various routes and availability of alternate routes, a decision has been taken that certain routes will be closed.”

The press release added, “Presently the Cantonment is fairly porous and the state of its roads does not permit heavy traffic. Over a period of time, the traffic density has grown, leading to a number of road accidents. This is also adversely affecting the training activities being undertaken in the Cantonment. Coupled with this, is the increased threat perception and enhanced security concerns. Cantonment Board is already working out a system for improving the traffic management in the Cantonment and Military Station areas.”

In this connection, they have also stated that main routes of entry and exit to all residential colonies have been kept open.

Back in 2012, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had given its verdict on public interest litigation in favour of the Army, to implement these changes considering various security reasons.

According to Defence PRO, MA Shakeel, “The Army is abiding by the orders of the court and has not gone against it. We have been closely examining the availability of alternate routes and only after proper evaluation, the roads have been cl0sed.”

Commenting on which roads would be closed, he said, “We have not finalised that part yet. Few high level meetings would be held and after that would inform the media and public.”

Gracy Patrick, a resident of Officers Colony, said, “The least the Army could have done was to inform the residents in advance about the traffic restrictions. We have been using those roads for years and if you stop the public from doing so all of a sudden through force, it is bound to irk them. It shows high-handedness.”