SECUNDERABAD: In a major relief to lakhs of commuters and residents of Kapra, Malkajgiri and Alwal municipal circles, the ministry of defence (MoD) has decided to keep the arterial
Gough Road
in the
Army Ordnance Corps
(AOC) Centre open to the general public for another six months. TOI had reported the plight of local residents in its November 29 edition.
The earlier deadline will expire on November 30. With the extension of the deadline, the road will now remain open for motorists till May 30, 2017. The Gough Road provides access to about 250 colonies in Kapra, Malkajgiri and Alwal areas with Secunderabad railway station and other parts of Hyderabad. If the road is closed, residents of these colonies will be forced to ta ke a detour and travel via Mettuguda or Tirumulgherry covering an additional five to eight kilometres.
Gough Road is one of the busiest civilian roads in
Secunderabad Cantonment
. At present, the road is closed during the night. Two-wheeler riders, who do not wear helmets, are often not allowed to pass through it. They are stopped at the entry.
Rajesh Kumar Sah, deputy director (Q&C), ministry of defence, New Delhi, on Monday sent the communication to the local military authorities (LMA) and
Secunderabad Cantonment Board
(SCB) chief executive officer Sujatha Gupta. “Raksha Mantri has said that the proposal of LMA to close Gough Road in Secunderabad Cantonment may be deferred for a further period of six months i.e up to 30052017.“
This is the third time that the MoD has deferred its plans to close the road. The
Army first announced closure of the road from December 1, 2015. It however, deferred its plans after the state government intervened. The Army then announced that the road would be closed from June 1, 2016. The deadline was again extended to November 30.
The SCB did not officially announce the extension of deadline though it got the communication on Monday .Malkajgiri LS member Ch Malla Reddy on Tuesday met defence minister
Manohar Parrikar in Delhi and thanked him for extending the deadline by another six months.