representative image Kullu: Residents of six cantonments Himachal Pradesh are taking up arms against Union Defense Ministry ,Ministry of Defence) to introduce a new land ownership condition in the ongoing sorting process, while the Himachal Pradesh Cantonment Welfare Association has urged the state government to reject the MoD clause in the next meeting to be held this week.
HPCA general secretary Manmohan Sharma told TOI that if the new clause is implemented, it will not bring any change cantonment residentWho have been struggling for decades to get ownership rights of the land.
“It is very clear that the Defense Ministry does not want to lose control over the cantonments even after transferring the civilian areas to the respective state municipalities. But if the army or the central government retains control over civilian areas even after the clearance, the situation of residents will remain the same. “Such a clause would defeat the entire purpose of the total disinvestment initiative,” Sharma said.
“We urge the Himachal Pradesh government to reject this clause in its official response to the Defense Ministry as well as in the next meeting with Defense Ministry officials in Delhi. Such a situation is unacceptable for the residents of the cantonments and the state government should clearly convey this to the Defense Ministry. We have already written a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office requesting to withdraw the condition,” he said.
“We are also approaching the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, and urge its members to consider the demand of the cantonment residents. Except for this special condition, we agree to all the modalities of transfer of civilian areas from army cantonments to local municipalities. However, if the Defense Ministry does not withdraw its clause, we will start organizing protest rallies in the cantonments,” Sharma said.
The Defense Ministry has called a meeting with representatives of Himachal Pradesh on November 29 to discuss the progress of the shortlisting process.
In a major change in the sorting modalities, the ministry had in June this year introduced a new condition according to which the ownership rights of the land will remain with the Central government even after the transfer of assets and liabilities from the Army to the state government.
The new condition replaces the earlier position of the Defense Ministry according to which ownership rights over all properties in excise areas were to be transferred free of cost to the State Government and the concerned State Municipalities.
Municipal facilities on leased and old grant properties in the excise area were also to be transferred to the state municipalities. However, with this new condition, not only will the Central Government continue to be the owner of the land, but building bye-laws in the transferred civilian areas will also be subject to prior permission of the Defense Authority for carrying out any construction activity.
According to a letter written by Deputy Director General of Defense Estates Arvind Kumar Dwivedi to the Principal Director, additional modalities will be a part of the shortlisting process.
