By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 28 Dec: Sources in the government have indicated that, in Uttarakhand, civil areas inside the Cantonments of the state in various cities and towns will be placed under the civic control of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). The exercise for this has already begun. Sources have indicated that, possibly, this exercise will be completed before the municipal elections due to be held in Uttarakhand. It may be pointed out here that such a development is not possible without the approval of the Defence Ministry. At present, even the civil areas in the cantonments of the state are under the administrative control of Cantonment Boards, the CEO of which is always an army officer. Even the municipal elections are not held in such areas and these areas remain deprived of many civic facilities. Even the map approvals for the construction of houses and other buildings in the civil areas are granted by the Cantonments and not the development authorities as in municipal areas.
There are at present 7 cantonments in the cities and towns of Uttarakhand.
Sources have confirmed that the Defence Ministry has sought status reports of all the cantonments by 1 January, 2024, regarding this exercise. In addition, meetings in virtual mode are also being held between the Urban Development Department of Uttarakhand Government and the Defence Ministry. A top-level meeting will also be convened to arrive at a final decision soon in which senior officers of the state government are expected to participate.
It may be recalled that civilian residents in the civil areas of the cantonments have been demanding this for a long time in order to get facilities and services that municipalities provide, as they feel that cantonment boards are not able to do so efficiently. In addition, there are severe restrictions applicable with regard to setting up business in these areas and to easily obtain map approvals for construction. As such, efforts have been going on for a long time to include the civil area of cantonments in Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils or Nagar Panchayats. There is also a possibility of forming new municipal bodies at many places as the area becomes larger. The major cantonment areas in the state which fall in this category are Dehradun Cantt including parts of Premnagar, Clement Town in Dehradun, Roorkee, Lansdowne, Almora, Nainital and Ranikhet.
So far, meetings have been held several times in New Delhi at the level of Urban Development Directorate and Defence Estates Department of the Union Government. Now the Office of the Directorate General of Defence Estates has sent a letter to the Principal Director, Defence Estates, seeking status reports regarding the proposal by 1 January, 2024, which will be submitted through the cantonments under the Command concerned. Even a format has been prescribed for this. All the cantonments of Uttarakhand come under the Central Command.
In this regard, a virtual meeting is also going to be held soon at the ministry level, in which officials from the Uttarakhand government will participate. Sources claim that the state government wishes to complete this exercise before the municipal elections so that polls can be held in these areas, too, which have already been delayed for various reasons by the state government. It is also felt in the government that with such an exercise, tourism will also get a boost due to removal of restrictions in cities like Lansdowne and Almora. Lansdowne MLA Dilip Singh Rawat Mahant has been demanding this for long.
Once these cantonment areas come under jurisdiction of the municipal bodies, all the development related work including issuance of various certificates of the people will also come under the municipal bodies and the development authorities concerned run by Mayors in the case of Municipal Corporations and under Municipal Chairpersons in case of Municipal Councils. The ULBs will collect house tax, too. Development activities will be expedited as cantonments have relatively less budget.
