Pune: More than a month after the reopening of three cantonment roads in the city, the army authorities and the Pune and Khadki Cantonment Boards jointly conducted a fresh survey on Saturday to assess the situation on the ground and make a recommendation to the defence ministry on whether or not to re-impose closure of these roads.“Based on the survey, we have sent a report along with photographs to the ministry mentioning that the roads are open for public use and there are no restrictions imposed as of now,” D N Yadav, Pune Cantonment Board’s chief executive officer, said.The Pune Sub-Area and the Bombay Engineering Group & Centre, who are the local military authorities for Pune and Khadki cantonments, respectively, carried out the survey along with their respective board authorities at the Elite Lines and the Right Flank roads in Pune and the Sangamwadi-Deccan College road in Khadki. The Elite Lines links Ghorpadi with Koregaon Park while the Right Flank road is located in Wanowrie.On May 22, the local military authorities had reopened these three roads following directives from the defence ministry in view of a review of all closed roads in 62 cantonments across the country, carried out by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, chief of army staff General Bipin Rawat, defence secretary and other senior officials.The directive came after it was found that most local military authorities had not followed a due procedure before imposing a closure of cantonment roads. The ministry then gave a month’s time to the cantonment boards to furnish their feedback on how the situation works out after reopening of the roads.The move, however, has caused discontent among the armed forces authorities as they maintain that allowing civilian traffic on these road posses a security threat to defence establishments. The civilian population, which had been struggling for long to get the road reopened in view of the detour they were required to take, had welcomed the move.A PCB member, who did not wish to be named, said, “These roads are important for army as well public. The cantonment board and the LMA should explore suitable solution like one-way or time restriction along these roads to ensure that the requirement of both sides is met. Also, commuters need to be sensitive about the importance of defence establishments located on these roads and adhere to instructions.”A senior army officer said, “Ever since these roads have been reopened, traffic congestion has become a serious issue. All these aspects we have mentioned in our reports, which have been submitted to the ministry on June 22.”

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