Four roads in Secunderabad Cantonment remain closed despite a 2023 Ministry of Defence order directing their reopening, prompting residents to question whether the restrictions were imposed through the procedure required under the Cantonments Act, 2006.
The closed routes — Prontee Road, Byam Road, Richardson Road and Ammuguda Road — connect residential areas in and around Yapral, Sainikpuri and Bolarum with other parts of north-east Hyderabad. Residents say the closures have lengthened daily journeys and made movement through the cantonment more difficult.
The Federation of North Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad (FNECS) has questioned why the roads were closed again after the Ministry’s April 20, 2023 communication. In that communication, the Ministry said a committee had been constituted to examine the closure of 39 roads by Local Military Authorities without completion of the prescribed procedure to assess whether restrictions were necessary on grounds of perceived threats.
Based on the committee’s recommendations, the Ministry directed that the roads listed in its communication be opened with immediate effect. According to C.S. Chandrashekar of FNECS, several roads in the cantonment were reopened after the direction but were later closed again.
The latest restrictions followed the theft of firearms from a Madras Regiment facility in Bolarum. Several roads in the area were closed after the incident. The Hindu reported that some roads were reopened after the police cracked the case, but restrictions were subsequently imposed again.
FNECS has said residents were not informed of any process involving public notices and invitations for objections before the roads were closed again. Chandrashekar also questioned whether the Ministry of Defence had been informed about the subsequent restrictions.
“The authorities cannot treat the 2023 communication as irrelevant and continue closing public roads without following the prescribed legal process,” he said.
The dispute has implications beyond residential access. Shashank, a daily commuter cited in the report, said the cantonment road network links residential areas, commercial centres and industrial clusters in north-east Hyderabad. The network connects the Medchal industrial area in the west with the Charlapalli industrial area in the east, as well as industrial hubs around Genome Valley and Balnagar.
Restrictions on these routes therefore affect commuters and the movement of goods between multiple employment and industrial areas, according to the commuter. The closures also add pressure to alternative roads, although the supplied report does not provide traffic counts or quantified delays.
FNECS has demanded the reopening of the four roads and a comprehensive review of the cantonment’s road network. Chandrashekar said several roads in the area are only about 20 feet wide, compared with wider arterial roads elsewhere in Hyderabad.
He has called for the State government to examine the network as a whole and consider taking over and widening the existing roads under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. The immediate dispute, however, remains centred on whether the present closures comply with the Ministry’s 2023 direction and the statutory process governing restrictions on public roads.
The authorities’ next formal steps, including any review by the Ministry of Defence or the relevant Local Military Authorities, will determine whether the four roads remain closed or are reopened.
