Defence Ministry Decides to Merge 10 Cantonments with Local Municipal Bodies Across India

New Delhi: The government has decided  to merge 10 cantonments out of its 58 across India with the local municipal bodies of the respective states, according to an English daily. This means that these areas will no longer be under the control of the cantonment boards. The Ministry of Defence issued a notification regarding this change, giving residents eight weeks to raise any objections they may have.

Affected cantonments, as per reports, include 

• Dehradun and Clement Town in Uttarakhand. 
• Fatehgarh, Babina, Shahjahanpur, and Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
• Deolali in Maharashtra.
• Ramgarh in Jharkhand.
• Ajmer and Nasirabad are in Rajasthan. 

The Ministry of Defence consulted with the state governments and cantonment boards before making this decision, reports added.

Status Change of Civil Areas in Himachal Pradesh Cantonments

In Himachal Pradesh, the process of changing the status of civil areas in cantonments is also underway.  Further the Media reports said, a joint survey was conducted in February for cantonments like Subathu, Dagshai, Kasauli, and Bakloh, and a similar survey for Jutogh Cantonment is scheduled for March 7. The state government then submits a report to the Ministry of Defence based on these surveys.

This decision follows a previous notification issued by the Ministry of Defence in July 2023, which urged state governments to consider merging civil areas of cantonments with neighbouring state municipalities. One cantonment, Khas Yol, has already been denotified, and its civil areas now fall under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation, Dharamshala.

While Himachal Pradesh has shown leadership by providing consent letters for all its cantonments, the process of changing the status of civil areas is still ongoing for six of them, reports added. The joint surveys conducted under the chairmanship of deputy commissioners have already  progressed for four out of five cantonments in the state.

Himachal Pradesh has a total of seven cantonments, including Dalhousie, Sabathu, Dagshai, Kasauli, Bakloh, Jutogh, and Khas Yol. Except for Khas Yol, the civil areas of the other cantonments are yet to be denotified, but the process is underway.