SCB clears defence lands for elevated corridors, skywalks

Hyderabad: The Secunderabad Cantonment Board has approved the transfer of defence lands for elevated corridors/skyways under the Strategic Road Development Programme. 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 in August 2017, a year later Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao accepted all terms and conditions, except for the payment of recurring compensation to SCB. A joint survey for the proposed alignment along with SH-01 and NH-44 has been conducted, and as per the proposal, the DEO 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, i.e., Rajiv Rahadari Road, and amounts to approximately Rs 158.23 crore. An official statement noted, "The matter of compensation towards land and structures situated on B2 lands of various private individuals may be dealt with separately by the state government as per the norms. Similarly, the government of Telangana has been requested to take up the responsibility of restoring and operationalising the water supply network affected in the subject proposal, as well as ensuring uninterrupted drinking water supply in the Cantonment area through HMWS&SB, which is well-versed in augmenting water supply in twin cities at their cost by implementing alternative storage structures based on necessity.