Excision of Secunderabad Cantonment: Centre expedites merger with GHMC

HYDERABAD: The Union Defence Ministry has finally expressed its willingness to merge the Secunderabad Cantonment with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) soon. Responding to a query by Karnataka MP Mangal Suresh Angadi on Friday, Union Minister of State for Defence, Ajay Bhatt, said that the merger process was speeded up and was now a mere formality.

In a statement, Bhatt said, "Broad modalities for proposed excision have been shared with concerned State Governments for their comments on 23.05.2022. These modalities broadly cover transfer/retention of assets and liabilities, Cantonmnent Board employees, pensioners and other issues. So far, Telangana and Jharkhand have conveyed no objection to the proposal."

Earlier, Municipal and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao had said that the merger would help the Telangana Government to expedite infra projects.

“We have been demanding the merger of Sec’bad Cantonment into GHMC for a long time. This will help the Telangana Govt in taking forward SRDP & other infra projects expeditiously. It is the Union Govt’s adamant refusal to part with land that held up proposed skyways for over 7 yrs (sic),” KTR had tweeted on January 5, 2023.