To,

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Honorable Minister of  Defence,
Govt of India
New Delhi

Dear Madam,

Valerian Grammar School was established in the year 1961 and is located inside Secunderabad Cantonment, at the junction of the Cantonment and the Municipal area. It caters to the educational needs of the children of Defence personnel and surrounding areas. The school accords priority in admitting children of Defence Personnel even in mid-terms giving them concessions.

It boasts of several distinguished alumni who are working in positions of responsibility in government and industry.

Unfortunately Local Military Authorities have closed several roads in the cantonment which were used for decades by children and parents to reach the school. The road from Lakdawala Junction to Yapral, and roads from Hakimpet, Risala Bazar and RSI have been closed. These are all public roads which were open to public for more than a century.

Because of this road closure children from Bolarum, Hakimpet, Alwal, Lal Bazar and Sainikpuri have to take long routes to reach the school, which results in delays and much more expenditure. As a result the student strength of our school has dropped drastically from 2200 to less than 800.

We have represented this matter several times to the Local Military Authorities, but in vain.

We understand that Ministry of Defence have in fact issued a letter dated 07.01.2015 (Letter No 4(2)/2015-D(Q&C) directing Military Authorities to reopen roads in cantonments which were closed by them to the public. However Local Military Authorities in Secunderabad have not opened the closed roads, though we are aware that similar roads in other Cantonments of the country have been reopened after the Ministry issued its directions.

We request you to kindly take immediate action to open the closed roads to public so that local people can have easy access to our school. This will lead to an increase in student strength and we are confident that the school will be able to discharge its duties towards moulding the children into good and responsible citizens of tomorrow.

 

Thanking you,

Yours Sincerely,

 

Rev. Fr. Y. Bala Reddy
Principal, Valerian Grammar High School
Yapral, Secunderabad 500087, Telangana