SCB approves transfer of DEF land for elevated corridor/skyway

Hyderabad: The Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) on Friday approved the long pending transfer of Defence land for elevated corridors/skyways under the Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP). With this, all pending skyways on the North side will be taken up at a fast pace. The decision was announced at the board meeting. The project encompasses two main roads- Rajiv Rahadari State highway (SH-1) from Parade Grounds to Hakimpet Airport, and National Highway -44 from Paradise Circle to Suchitra Junction. After the joint survey, 157 acres has been identified. In 2016 the State government had sent a proposal to the Defence Ministry. While the MoD granted in-principle approval for the transfer of 90.69 acre of defence land in various GLR survey numbers for the project, but final work permission and survey number were not matching. Once again the government recently came up with clear proposal of how much land is needed and also the proposed stretch road will be widened to 60 metres, from 30. Speaking to the media, Madhukar Naik, SCB CEO, said, “a joint survey for the proposed alignment along with SH-01 and NH-44 has been conducted. As per the proposal, the Defence Estate Officer worked out the cost of the project plan considering the STR 2023 for the land admeasuring 15.351 acres, which is included in the proposal for State Highway-1, that is RajivRahadari Road. Similarly, for the Medchal-Nagpur highway, 18.37 acres is involved in the proposal.” On how many properties will be affected, he said the lands under the management of SCB are Class C lands (SCB use) and B2 lands (private) gifted to or vested in the SCB. A total of 157 acres has been identified for the project; 32.91 acres belongs to SCB; the total land cost is Rs 329 crore. We have requested the State government to compensate for an equal value of land to SCB fund so that this can be used for processing the development activities in the cantonment. In the proposal, certain old grant properties in the civil areas of Trimulgherry Bazaar (Lal Bazaar), Kadakpura, Kharkana, Risala Bazaar (Bolarum), will be affected; also even the Secunderabad Club area may be affected. Major pump houses along with ground-level storage reservoirs of Balamrai and Bownepally are affected. We have asked the State government to whether the pump house will be restored before the commencement of the project. Also, various B2 lands of private individuals may be affected, especially at the Kharkana stretch. For this also compensation should be given. For studying this there will be separate board officers. With this development, many traffic issues in SCB be resolved and road connectivity strengthened, he added.