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New Policy Guidelines on Working of Cantonment Boards on the Anvil: Defence Minister Parrikar

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Ministry of Defence

20-September, 2015 13:44 IST
New Policy Guidelines on Working of Cantonment Boards on the Anvil: Parrikar

The Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar today said MoD has started working on new policy guidelines relating to working of Cantonment Boards. Addressing the Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry in Goa, he said, the government is committed to resolving the problems faced in Cantonment areas, keeping in view security considerations and overall public interest while weeding out archaic provisions and replacing these with more realistic rules.

This is the first time that a Meeting of the Consultative Committee of MoD was held outside New Delhi.

Shri Parrikar said he has been receiving a number of representations about the difficulties faced by civilian residents of cantonments and these relate to closure of roads in cantonments, problems connected with the works of Defence Act, 1903, inordinate delay in transfer and mutation of properties held on old grant or lease, sub-division and change of purpose, resumption of properties held on old grant, renewal of expired leases, conversion of old grant or leasehold sites in civil areas of the cantonments into freehold and restriction on construction of building and revision of building bye-law.

The Cantonment is a place or places declared by the Central Government by notification in Official Gazette, in which any part of the Forces is quartered or which, being in the vicinity of such place or places, is or are required for the services of such Forces.

The establishment of Cantonments started during British period with the need for quartering the troops. Housing was the core objective. The first Cantonment was established in Barrackpore (35 km from Kolkata) in 1765 and the second at Danapore (Patna) in the same year.

Presently there are 62 Cantonments in the country located in 19 states and fall under the jurisdiction of 5 Army Commands. The total area covered by the Cantonments is 1,86,730 Acres and the population as per 2011 Census is 20, 91, 734.


The election to 56 Cantonment Boards were conducted on 11 January 2015. The election to 5 Cantonment Boards were conducted on 17 May 2015. During these elections, EVMs provided by the Election Commission of India were used for the first time. The total electorates in these 61 Cantonments were approximately 13, 40, 000. A total of 404 members were elected. One-third of the elected members are women. However, election to Panchmarhi Cantonment Board has been set aside by the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The matter of holding elections in Khasyol cantonment is under consideration of the Ministry.

Taking part in the discussion, Members of Parliament suggested that the Government should endeavour to build Smart Cantonments on the line of Smart Cities. Some members felt that MoD should take immediate steps to improve the living conditions of civilian populace in Cantonment areas. One suggestion was to allow existing owners to carry out repair and restoration work of the buildings and automatic extension of leasehold of property. Still some members felt that Army should not get itself bogged down in land management issues of cantonments, and instead, it should be left to civilian authorities to deal with the issues.

Members of Parliament who attended the meeting included Shri Raj Kumar Singh, Shri Anil Shirole, Prof. Saugata Roy, Shri VP Singh Badnore, Dr. Mahendra Prasad, Shri TK Rangarajan and Shri M Patil Vijaysinh Shankarrao.

The Defence Secretary Shri G Mohan Kumar, DGDE Smt Sundari Subramaniam Pujari, DG DRDO Shri S Christopher and other senior officials of MoD attended the meeting.
 
Ministry of Defence
22-March, 2018 18:36 IST
Dr Subhash Bhamre Inaugurates New Building Of NIDEM

Raksha Rajya Mantri Dr Subhash Bhamre inaugurated the new building of National Institute of Defence Estates Management (NIDEM) here today. The training institute of Indian Defence Estates Service (IDES) has come a long way since its humble beginning at Meerut in 1982.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Bhamre said the day marks fulfilment of a dream of having a full-fledged set-up for imparting training to the new recruits as well as updating the in-service officers in modern technologies in management of valuable defence land and administration of Cantonments.

He said the IDES Cadre is critical in overall scheme of management of Defence Land. Proper Cadre management keeps the officers motivated to scale new heights and proper training gives the officers and staff,all the required skills to discharge their dutiesefficiently, effectively and ethically. Dr Bhamre lauded the efforts of NIDEM in imparting training to in-Service officers of the defence forces and it will now be convenient to organise trainingprograms for the officers of the Services more frequently.

Sharing his experience of the last 21 months, Dr Bhamre said, “The organisation has done well in the ambitious projects of survey of entire Defence Land and digitisation of valuable land records through latest techniques. I extend my compliments to DGDE and his team.” He advised that issues like renewals of leases, mutation of properties in Cantonments and processing of acquisition proposals should beworked out within prescribed time limits.

The institute started in 1982 from a small accommodation shared by National Institute of Management & Accounts (NIMA) - a training institute of IDAS (Indian Defence Accounts Service) officers. It was shifted to Delhi in 1995. It was initially located in the office of Defence Estates Officer, Delhi Circle, thereafter in the premises of Raksha Sampada Bhawan. In both these places, the training infrastructure was inadequate. The Institute basically trains the officers of Defence Estates Organization in civic administration and land transfer matters. With the rapid changes in the field of urbanisation and e-governance, NIDEM has developed expertise in training officers in the fields of solid waste management, RTI, Public Private Partnership, developmental planning, public health, the gender issues etc. Besides training the officers and staff of Defence Estates Organization, NIDEM also trains the officers of the wings of Defence services on land related issues and Cantonment matters.

Director General Defence Estates Shri Jojneshwar Sharma informed that there were 62 cantonments in 19 States with an area cover of 1,86,730 acres. Cantonment Boards are responsible for providing civic administration and implementing the Central Govt schemes of social welfare, public health, education, hygiene, safety, water supply, sanitation, urban renewal etc in the Cantonment areas.
 
Ministry of Defence
28-March, 2018 15:36 IST
Problems in Cantonment Areas

Reports and representations are received from time to time about difficulties faced by residents of Cantonment areas. These cover subjects such as closure of roads, delay in mutation of properties, renewal of leases, building bye-laws and provision of civic amenities. These matters are addressed on case to case basis as per extant rules and instructions.

The Government provides financial assistance to Cantonment Boards in the form of general Grant-in-aid and Grants for creation of capital assets. These amounts together with their own internal revenue are utilised by the Cantonment Boards for providing civic amenities / welfare measures for civilians residing in Cantonment Areas. General Grant-in-aid of Rs.267.42 crore and Grant for creation of capital assets of Rs.62.43 crore has been provided for Cantonment Boards during the financial year 2017-2018.

There is no such proposal. The problems are resolved on case to case basis as per extant rules and instructions.

This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Dr. Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to ShriRajendra Agrawalin Lok Sabha today.
 

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