Hyderabad: The Union ministry of defence has agreed to de-notify civil areas of various cantonments from cantonment Boards, benefiting both the Centre and state governments in a major win-win situation.
In the Secunderabad Cantonment, residents have been urging for years for their areas to be merged with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in order to access basic facilities and civic infrastructure that have been lacking for decades.
The ruling has brought relief to people in Secunderabad Cantonment Board, Ahmednagar, Ajmer, Aurangabad, Babina, Belgaum, Kathroor Deolali, Kamptee, Khadki, Morar, Nasirabad, Pune, and Sagar.
On Friday, a letter was sent by Hemanth Yadav, the deputy director and acting director of the southern command of the Union ministry of defence, to all cantonment boards' chief executive officers.
The choice was made during the meeting on June 26, led by the defense secretary.
The decision made in the meeting includes notifying the excision of civil areas from cantonments and their merger with neighboring state municipalities, following broad guidelines.
The rules specify that the state government/state municipalities will receive ownership of all assets intended for delivering civic amenities and municipal services in the excised area at no charge.
Nonetheless, the assets and debts of the individual cantonment boards will be handed over to the specific municipality. The municipality's jurisdiction over the leased/old grant properties in the excised area would be shifted to the state municipality.
The ownership of assets of the cantonment board was also made clear.