Yol in Himachal Pradesh ceases to be a cantonment

The Defence Ministry has begun the process of doing away with military cantonments and the first one to lose its status is Yol in Himachal Pradesh.

The ministry on April 27th issued a notification stating that “Cantonment of Khas Yol shall cease to be a cantonment with effect from the date of publication of this notification.” There are currently 62 cantonments spread over 19 states and the only one in Karnataka is Belgaum.

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While the military areas within cantonments will be converted into Military Stations, the civil areas inside cantonment will be merged with local municipalities.

“This move will prove beneficial to all alike. Civilians who were, until now, not getting access to State government welfare schemes through the municipalities, will now be in a position to avail these through the municipalities. The army can focus on the development of military stations,” defence officials.

The denotification of Yol Cantonment is the first among a series of excisions of cantonments that will happen over the next few months. “This move has been welcomed by all. Cantonments are deemed municipalities and running municipalities is a State subject,” officials said.

Currently, the cantonments are run by the Cantonment Boards that come under the Defence Estate Department.

The Ministry of Defence is India’s biggest land-owning agency and as per records maintained by the Defence Estates Office, it owns about 18 lakh acres of land out of which approximately 1.61 lakh acres is within 62 notified cantonments.

At the time of independence, there were 56 cantonments and six were added post-1947, the last being Ajmer in 1962. The limits of Yol cantonment – headquarters of 9 Corps - were drawn in January 1942.

The cantonments came up during the British era and were exclusive areas where service personnel and their families resided. Over the years, cities have expanded and a large number of civilians now reside in close proximity to the cantonments.