FNECS regarding Telangana Govt Spl Representative Letter to Defence Minister regarding road closure

The Federation of North Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad (FNECS), along with Sri Kotha Rama Rao, ex-corporator GHMC Div 1, had represented the matter of road closure in Secunderabad Cantonment to Dr S Venugopala Chary, Special Representative of Telangana State in New Delhi. While submitting their representation, FNECS had requested Dr Venugopala Chary to take up the matter of reopening the closed roads with the Hon'ble Defence Minister, Govt. of India.

Dr Venugopala Chary was good enough to write a letter to the Hon'ble Defence Minister and request him to take action to reopen the closed Secunderabad Cantonment roads as per the Ministry of Defence orders of 7 January 2015. His letter points out that though the Ministry of Defence Orders have been followed in other cantonments, where closed roads have been reopened subsequent to the Orders, the same orders have not been followed in Secunderabad Cantonment. In fact more roads are continuously being closed in Secunderabad Cantonment.

The letter further points out that the Ministry of Defence Orders to reopen roads were issued subsequent to the judgment of Hon'ble Hyderabad High Court dated 26.09.2014 which had allowed the Army to close certain roads. The letter highlights that the procedure for closing roads as specified in Cantonments Act 2006 was not followed in Secunderabad, and requests the Defence Minister to issue directions to Secunderabad Cantonment Board to file a petition in the Hon'ble High Court to vacate the Court's earlier orders of 26.09.2014.

Enclosed along with the letter were a list of closed roads in Secunderabad Cantonment, copies of Cantonment Board Minutes in other cities showing that closed roads were reopened there subsequent to the Ministry of Defence Orders, and copy of judgments delivered by Hon'ble Allahabad High Court ruling that Local Military Authorities have no power to close roads in cantonment.

On behalf of lakhs of affected citizens FNECS thanks the Telangana State Government, Sri K T Rama Rao Hon'ble Minister for Urban Development Telangana, and Dr S Venugopala Chary for proactively bringing the matter to the notice of the Central Government. FNECS hopes that with this intervention by closed roads will be reopened to civilians immediately, so that they are relieved of their daily commuting problems.

A copy of Dr Venugopala Chary's letter to the Hon'ble Defence Minister is enclosed herewith for information.

FNECS requests the media to give wide publicity to this development, in view of the lakhs of Hyderabad residents who are affected by the closure of roads in Secunderabad Cantonment.

For further information please contact C S Chandrashekar, Secretary FNECS, at phone no.: 80082 09888.