New Delhi: India’s longstanding civilian-military tussle over the management of cantonments — a British-era concept of designating areas that primarily accommodate the military population and their installations — is back in focus with the Narendra Modi government said to be considering the abolition of cantonment areas.
While civilians living in cantonment areas have long complained of issues regarding different restrictions, and said cantonment boards have failed to resolved them, the government’s latest move seeking views and comments from the boards on the abolition of cantonments has not gone down well with the Army.
Speaking to ThePrint, several Army officers, both serving and retired, said if cantonments are abolished, it would adversely impact training and administration of the Army in these areas, and would also be a security hazard.
The civilian residents, however, complain that cantonment boards have been unable to come out with a solution to their daily difficulties that come with living inside cantonments — such access to home loans, free movement within the premises, for example.
According to the Directorate General of Defence Estates, an inter-services organisation of the Ministry of Defence that directly controls cantonment administration, there are 62 cantonments in the country that were notified under the Cantonments Act, 1924, before Independence. The law was succeeded by the Cantonments Act, 2006.
Cantonments and their structure
Comprising both military and civilian population, cantonments are different from military stations, which are meant purely for the training and accommodation of the armed forces.
Cantonments are classified into four categories — class I to class IV —depending on the size of the area and population. While a class I cantonment has eight elected civilians and eight government/military members on the board, a class IV cantonment has got two elected civilians and two government/military members.
This board is responsible for various aspects of the cantonment’s administration.
The station commander of the cantonment is the ex officio president of the board and an officer of the Defence Estates Organisation is the chief executive and the member-secretary. The board has equal representation of elected and nominated/ex officio members to balance the official representation.
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Civilian issues in cantonments
Cantonments have several restrictions in place, including on any construction activity or usage of certain roads. It is these restrictions that have become a bone of contention between the civil population living inside cantonments and the military.
Civilian residents of cantonments say they are largely unhappy with the functioning of cantonment boards.
“The common issues often raised by civilians residing in cantonments is that occupation of common areas is difficult and there are limited resources for infrastructure development,” said a source in one of the cantonment boards in the country.
He added that cantonment boards are aware of this problem, but have failed to come up with a solution.
Shailendra Singh Kushwah, vice president, Morar Cantonment in Gwalior, told ThePrint that the restrictions in cantonments are a constant cause for worry for the civil population staying inside.
“Citizens from non-military backgrounds living inside cantonments do not get home loans easily as it is considered defence land. Certain government schemes which were applicable for the regular populace, such as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna, are not always applicable to people living in cantonments,” he claimed.
According to Kushwah, even building additional floors or carrying out basic renovations are a problem for the civilians staying in cantonments as that requires multiple permissions.
Many of the central government schemes such as AMRUT and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna cannot be implemented inside cantonments because of the rules associated with cantonments.
The source quoted above said there were also restrictions on movement inside cantonments due to security concerns, “some of which have since been removed” with the opening of cantonment roads to the public. “But a bar on using certain roads inside the cantonments remains.”
In 2018, then defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman opened up cantonment roads for public use. The move received a lot of backlash, particularly from the Army, but Sitharaman defended it saying a detailed review was undertaken and feedback was sought from local military authorities before the decision was taken. She had noted that 850 roads were under closure in the 62 cantonments.
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Why is the military against the move?
The possibility of abolishing cantonments or even opening them up has evoked strong reactions from the armed forces, which said it would not just impact training but also cause a security threat by allowing in too many strangers into the area.
A senior Army officer told ThePrint that the civil population had been originally permitted to live in cantonment areas to assist the armed forces. “However, with the increasing population, there are increased chances of encroachments and also security threats to the families living in cantonments.”
The officer added the civilians largely have an issue with the cantonment boards than the military itself.
Former 15 Corps Commander Lt. Gen. Gurmeet Singh (Retd) said cantonments are the “interim location” for units and soldiers between two tenures of difficult and challenging “border and field postings” to focus on training and administration.
“Encroachment and land grabbing are the two biggest threats to cantonments from inimical elements in the land mafia, and those often connected to local politics. Security threats from terrorism and anti-India forces are real for Indian armed forces,” he said.
“Cantonments must have controlled access and regulated environments with collective amenities and facilities, with inherent security,” he said, adding that the Army’s training, mobilisation and administration must not be revealed to unwanted elements, from security perspectives.
Singh said the armed forces must have the last word in the management of cantonments, because they are accountable and responsible to their soldiers and families for provision of disciplined and quality living environment.
In 2016, a Committee of Experts, chaired by Lt. Gen (Retd) D.B. Shekatkar, had recommended that the cantonment board should continue to function with civil representatives but the CEO should be accountable to the local military authority and the chairman of the board be a serving officer.
Speaking to ThePrint, Shekhatkar said the move to open up or abolish cantonments should be strongly opposed.
“It is a dangerous move. Opening up cantonments will render the defence land easily to the land and business mafias. It will affect the armed forces and their families, and can be a huge security threat,” he said.
To tackle any internal security threat, the former senior Army officer, said the armed forces must be stationed and located close by, to be effective without undue delay.
“Opening of the cantonment roads has caused irreparable damage to the safety and security of cantonments. Unfortunately, those who allowed this will never be held accountable,” he said.
What urban planning experts say
Pankaj Joshi, principal director, Urban Centre Mumbai, a not-for-profit focusing on urban planning, designing and advocacy, said cantonments were essentially a part of the colonial legacy, which were designed in every city or town for the military to control the local population.
“But that purpose has gone after Independence. Now a lot of the cantonment areas are used for training and education purposes,” he said.
“We need to look at this to ascertain which of the cantonments perform today for their operational requirements or for training and which are for just allied necessities such as educational or residential. Based on that, there is a need for cantonments to be integrated into city and town plans,” he said.
Joshi said there should also be parity in density of people staying in a city that lacks adequate open spaces, amenity spaces for its population.
“All area blankets cannot be a no-go area for urban planning and they should be integrated and scaled in a way beneficial or symbiotic to both defence forces as well as the cities and towns,” he said.
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