Govt to dissolve colonial era cantonment board system

New Delhi: In a historic decision to discontinuing the colonial era cantonment board system, the Government has decided to dissolve all 62 army cantonment boards in the country.

It has also decided to hand over civilian areas under cantonment to local municipal bodies. While the army areas in the cantonment will be turned into military stations. The country currently has 62 cantonment boards.

Defence sources told that the exercise to disband cantonment board will start from Himachal Pradesh's Yol cantonment. This cantonment will soon be converted to military station and other will follow gradually.

They said, the decision has been made in an attempt to decolonise the entire system of cantonment board system which was prevalent under British rule in India. The areas which remained under military control will be turned into military station and civilians areas will be handed over to municipal bodies.

Earlier, the residents of Yol cantonment demanded that they be excluded from cantonment area. The 12,028 odd residents of the cantonment had long demanded that the cantonment board be disbanded to seek developmental activities. Their demands were finally met after officials of Himachal government and the Centre met in 2020. There is a popular demand from civilian residents and also states for excision of cantonments, they said.

According to records maintained by the Defence Estates Offices, the defence ministry is the largest landowner in the country, with about 17.99 lakh acre. Of this, approximately 1.61 lakh acre is held within the 62 notified cantonments. The remaining land, around 16.38 lakh acre, is spread across the country and outside the cantonments. Affairs related to the cantonments, including construction of new buildings, height of building, commercial conversion, sewage and rest were all controlled by the Cantonment Board.

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