KULLU: Khasyol Cantonment Board (KCB) in Dharamshala has become the first cantonment in the country to have its civilian area separated and removed from Army control. Ministry of defence (MoD) joint secretary Rakesh Mittal issued a notification on Friday declaring the separation of the civilian area with immediate effect.
Civil areas in the cantonment had come into existence in 1942. On January 19, 2023, the MoD had issued a notification approving the excision of civil areas from the KCB, starting the process of transfer of assets, including government buildings, from the KCB to the local administration. As per the MoD notification, 25 employees of the KCB would be shifted to the Himachal Pradesh government following de-notification of the board. All the assets of the KCB, including buildings, vehicles, streetlights, etc, which are valued at Rs 6.75 crore, would also be shifted to the state government.
Separating civilian and Army areas was a long-pending demand of the residents of KCB and the state government had first sent a proposal in this regard to the MoD in 2013. The MoD had given its in-principle approval to the proposal in 2016 and a committee of defence officials was formed in 2020 to look into the details of separating civilian and Army areas of Khasyol.
According to district officials, the civilian areas were being merged with the neighbouring panchayats and would get a rural status under the Panchayati Raj department.
While Friday’s MoD notification has spread cheer in Khasyol area, the fate of remaining six cantonments in Himachal Pradesh – Kasauli, Dagshai, Sabathu, Jutogh, Bakloh and Dalhousie – still hangs in balance. The residents of these cantonments too have also been demanding separating of civilian areas and have announced to boycott the elections to the cantonment boards, scheduled to be held on April 30, as a mark of protest.
The residents of these areas, too, have been demanding separation, citing lack of development, stringent architectural controls, additional taxes, lack of property rights, business losses and an alleged lack of transparency in the functioning of the boards.
The MoD had announced the elections to the Boards last month. The five-year term of the cantonment boards had ended in 2020, but the MoD had been giving extensions to the boards.
