Army families resent order on use of cantonment roads

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 24

Following the recent order of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to reopen all cantonment roads to the public, Army veterans in the country have waged a battle in this regard on the social media.

With #Cantt security on the Twitter, the veterans have termed it a politically motivated decision to woo voters. Even families of serving and retired officers have joined the crusade, they have termed “Battle of open gates”. Sources said a senior official in the Southern Command had refused to open all roads before reviewing the security protocol and sought similar response from other commands.

“Govt decides to open Cant roads to the public with immediate effect. Move will adversely affect security of military units and personnel stationed in Cants. Hawkers, political gatherings meetings & processions will become the norm. Wonder what made the Services top brass accept the move.” - posted by the Twitter handle by name Brig V Mahalingam.

A Twitter handle by name Ginni Rastogi posting a letter on behalf of the Army families even asked the Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman as to what will the government do if they were held hostage.

“What if anyone keeps us hostage? What will the government do? We all know what had happened at the family quarters of Jammu and Pathankot. Instead of tightening the security, the government has opened gates. Please reconsider your decision,” tweets Rastogi.

In Jalandhar too, a feeling of anguish has been reported both in the serving and retired Army fraternity. Many senior officials have slammed the decision and said the move had once again separated the families in peace station as the jawans were told to put in extra working hours on security duties.

“A cantonment like Jalandhar is open from all sides. The government should have first ensured to construct walls around the cantonment before allowing a free way to the general public. Now, it would be easy for anti-national forces to enter and escape from anywhere after causing damage to lives and Army establishments,” said an officer. Also, the Army fraternity has slammed the local MP for approaching the MoD with this demand. “They should have constructed link roads in the cantonment periphery instead of putting the Army security in jeopardy,” said another veteran.

However, defending the front on behalf of the MoD, Lt-Gen HS Panag has termed the security risk in cantonment areas as a “bogey”. “Most have not read the cantt Board Act. Conceived as townships, never exclusively as military stations,” tweeted Gen Panag.

He added that only type A land in cantonment areas were to be used exclusively by military and could be fenced with access denied to the general public.