Faced with criticism for closure of roads in Cantonments by several Members of Parliament (MPs) and civilians and counter- protests by families of several serving Services personnel against the decision to open these roads, the Defence Ministry on Friday announced a standardised protocol.
The process of closure of roads, which the local military authorities consider necessary to be closed, may be initiated but the reason to do so needs to be cited. Also, in case of emergency security needs of the Army, the Cantonment Board can temporarily close roads after permission from the chief of the related Command. The order has to be given wide publicity and ratified by the Defence Ministry within two weeks.
There are nearly 850 roads in 62 Cantonments all over the country and at least 119 roads were closed for many years without following the laid down procedure.
A directive issued by the ministry on Friday, after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held several rounds of talks with all stake holders including MOs and elected Vice-President of Cantonment Boards over the last few months, said the standardised protocol will be according to the Cantonments Act, 2006 and orders issued by the ministry on May 18 this year. The directive was firmed up after consultations between the minister, Army Chief and Director General Defence Estates.
Issuing the order in May, Sitharaman had said that all the roads closed without adhering to laid down norms should be opened. She also directed the Army to conduct a study of roads to be closed and the local Military Authorities(lMA) should come up with a detailed plan. The order also stipulated that as per section 258 of the Act, the local Military Authorities will have to inform the public through at least three announcements in local newspapers including one in English and two in local language.
Addressing a news conference in June this year, Sitharaman had strongly defended opening of cantonment roads and said a detailed review was done and feedback taken from local military authorities before the decision was taken. She had also clarified the decision pertained only to cantonments where the civilian population and military lived together.
She had also said a list of all the roads closed was drawn up by the Director General of Defence Estates (DGDE) which was then sent to local military authorities of all cantonment boards to corroborate.
“After this exercise, we came to know that 850 roads were under closure in 62 cantonments. From among the 850, 119 were closed without following the laid down procedure. So in a way the complaints which were coming from elected representatives have some reason somewhere,” she said. She, however, lamented that even after her decision, only 80 of the 119 roads were opened.