RAMGARH: The Ramgarh Cantonment Board (RCB) which is the 82-year-old lone civic body under the administrative control of the ministry of defence (MoD) may soon be part of the Ramgarh Municipal Corporation (RMC) as the Union government has reportedly decided to gradually dissolve all the 62 cantonment boards in the country and merge them with civic bodies.
Ramgarh is only district in Jharkhand where two urban civic bodies are functional – RCB and RMC. Together, they cover around 3 lakh population.
Former RCB vice-chairman Anmol Singh said, “The MoD on April 27 issued a notification to dissolve Khasyol Cantonment Board in Himachal Pradesh, which is the first to get dissolved by Union government in its endeavour to abolish the colonial-era system made by the British.”
Welcoming the move, he said it will help in providing better civic amenities to people residing in garrison towns across the country. “It is because people living under these boards are often bereft of state government schemes. Ramgarh has been struggling for proper civic amenities in the garrison town since long due to fund crunch at RCB and there is no support from the state government,” he added.
RCB public representative Kirti Gaurav said the move will benefit Ramgarh. “Municipal bodies in areas like Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad have budgets of several crores of rupees. For example, Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has the annual budget of almost 2000 crore while Dhanbad Corporation has 1600 crore. RMC is also expected to get an annual budget of 1000 crore once the merger happens. Currently, the figure is just 10 crore for RCB,” he said.
The MoD had announced election schedules for 57 cantonment boards including RCB on April 30 but later withheld it abruptly.
In 1947, there were 56 cantonment boards including one in Ramgarh and gradually more were added. The former vice-chairman of RCB said, “The 62 cantonment boards cover 1.6 lakh acres of land serving about 50 lakh population.”
Building bylaws made under cantonment boards have been another concern for residents as they allow only G+1 structures.
Kirti added another major issue in garrison town is that one can’t construct building in areas prohibited by the board, even though one owns the land. “Hence, hundreds of building have been constructed in violation of the restrictions,” he said.
Another former board member cited poor revenue collection of CBR. “Tax collection of CBR is around 2.50 crore and half of it goes for payment of salaries and pension to retired employees,” he said. RCB chief executive officer M S Harivijay refused to divulge any details and said they have not received any notification.
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