MoD Proposes Merger Of Civil Areas Of 58 Cantonments Across Country With State Municipalities

Currently, there is no bar on implementation of State government schemes in Cantonment areas and the benefits of the same are extended to the people residing in Cantonment areas. 

Civil areas under 58 cantonments across the country will be excised and merged with adjoining state municipal areas, said the defence ministry on Monday. “In order to bring uniformity in municipal laws governing civil areas of Cantonments and adjoining State Municipal areas, it has been decided to consider to excise civil areas of certain Cantonments and merge them with neighbouring State municipalities. Accordingly, broad modalities for proposed excision of civil areas in 58 Cantonments have been shared with concerned State Governments for their comments,” said the ministry in a statement. 

It however said that it was not feasible to provide any time-frame for its implementation. 

“The excision of civil areas and their merger with State Municipalities involves active consultation and concurrence of the concerned State Governments. Therefore, it is not feasible to provide any time-frame for its implementation,” it said. 

Various representations have been received from public and elected representatives, and also from few State Governments requesting for excision of civil areas from Cantonments, it added. 

Currently, there is no bar on implementation of State government schemes in Cantonment areas and the benefits of the same are extended to the people residing in Cantonment areas. 

The 58 cantonments in question are spread across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Delhi, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Meghalaya.

The prominent ones include Ambala, Deolali, Delhi, Ahmednagar, Mhow, Jabalpur, Kasauli, Pachmarhi, Shillong, Babina, Bareilly, Wellington, Pune, Dalhousie, Secunderabad, Lucknow, Allahabad, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Subathu, Dehradun, Lansdowne, Nainital and Roorkee.

One Cantonment namely, KhasYol has already been de-notified, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.