Centre Ends ‘Archaic Colonial Era’ Cantonment Boards, Himachal's YoI First To Go

In a notification published on 27 April, the Union government issued directions to end the cantonment tag of Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district, thus ending the colonial era establishment.

The Centre is also planning to dissolve all the 62 cantonments in the country, where all the fauji areas will be designated a military station while the civilian areas will now come under local municipalities, The Print reported.

Yol is therefore only the first in the line, with the government determined to end the “archaic colonial-era practice of creating cantonments”.

Officials have said that the move is going to benefit civilians and the military alike.

“Civilians, who were, until now not getting access to state government welfare schemes through the municipality, will now be in a position to avail them. As far as the Army is concerned, it too can now focus on the development of the military station,” an official was quoted as saying by The Print.

Cantonment areas are governed by Cantonment Act, 2006 through Cantonment Boards under the Defence Estates Department of the Ministry of Defence. As per Section 10(2) of the act, they are deemed municipalities under clause (e) of Article 243P of the Constitution.

It is headed by a military officer who is aided in his activities by a board of elected members. The functions of the cantonment range from collection of tax and non-tax revenue to providing primary education and street lighting.

According to the government, there are 62 cantonments in the country, 56 of which were established in the pre-independence era, while six more came up later. The last cantonment to be set up was in Ajmer in 1962.

Several cantonments such as Dharamshala and Sitapur were de-notified earlier too in the pre-independence era.

Data maintained by the Defence Estates Office also shows that the Ministry of Defence is the largest landowner in the country and manages a whopping 17.99 lakh acres of land.

However, civilians who live in cantonment areas are dissatisfied with the way the cantonments are run by officials. They are not able to access any government schemes and the movement in these areas is also restricted.

The expenditure for the development of these ‘civil’ areas also comes from the defence budget and places the additional burden of administration on the military.

The ever-increasing civilian area is putting pressure on defence land. Thus, there is popular demand to end the practice. Reports suggest that the employees of these boards will be absorbed by the local municipalities.