Secunderabad Cantonment Board to give 33 acres for road widening

Hyderabad, Aug (IANS) Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has given nod for handing over 33 acres to the Telangana government, a move which is expected to help in widening of roads to ease traffic congestion in Secunderabad, the twin city of Hyderabad.

The SCB at its special meeting on Friday passed a resolution to handover the land for widening of roads from Paradise Circle to Suchitra Circle and from Gymkhana Grounds to Hakimpet Air Force Station. 

This will pave the way for taking up the long-pending works on the busy roads connecting to Hyderabad-Nagpur national highway 44 and Hyderabad-Karimnagar state highway one (Rajiv Rahdari).

The widening of roads is expected to ease congestion in Bowenpally and Tirumalagiri areas.

However, officials said the widening works and also the proposed skyways and Metro corridors can be completed only if 157 acres of land belonging to various defence units is handed over to the state government.

The land was identified in the joint survey by Defence Estate Officer (DEO), Secunderabad Circle and Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA).

Cantonment Board (SCB) CEO Madhukar Naik said they have agreed to give 33 acres under their management but for the remaining 124 acres, respective departments will have to take a decision. 

The defence lands include different categories like Army lands and leased land.

The SCB has asked the state government to pay Rs.329 crore for 33 acres.

The state government has long been demanding the Defence Ministry to hand over the lands for undertaking proposed skyways and other projects to ease the traffic congestion.

The proposal under Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP) was first mooted in 2017.

Telangana's minister for municipal administration and urban development K.T. Rama Rao had called on Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi on June 23 and requested him to transfer defence lands.

The state minister had said after the meeting that the state government had been requesting the Centre to transfer defence lands for construction of skyways from Jubilee Bus Stand to Rajiv Rahadari, from Paradise Circle to Medchal ORR.

KTR said that if the defence ministry comes forward to give 96 acres of land for Jubilee Bus Stand-Rajiv Rahadari skyway and 56 acres for Paradise Circle-Medchal ORR skyway, the state government would give alternate lands of equal value.

He said the state government was also developing skywalks. While the skywalk at Uppal has been completed, the work on the skyway at Mehdipatnam was stalled as the defence ministry had not given the permission.

The state has also sought defence land for a road to link Golconda and Ibrahim Bagh.

The State Cabinet at its meeting on July 31 decided to undertake massive expansion of Hyderabad Metro.

It was announced after the meeting that double elevated Metro corridors will be developed to improve the public transportation system. The corridors from Jubilee Bus Station to Thumkunta and Patny to Kandlakoya at Outer Ring Road (ORR) are proposed along the routes connecting Nagpur national highway and Karimnagar state highway.

While the lower level will be for motor vehicles, the upper one will be for Metro trains.