Civilians residing in Ferozepur Cantonment areas still under British Law of 1836, demand merger with Municipal Council
Civilians residing in Ferozepur Cantonment areas still under British Law of 1836, demand merger with Municipal Council
Ferozepur, July 10, 2024: The decision about the merger of the civil area in the cantonment jurisdiction with the nearest municipal council or extending the civil area is still hanging fire and even after 78 years of India’s independence, the residents of cantonment area in Ferozepur are forced to bear the laws of the British era of 1836 besides feeling the harassment from the Cantonment Board officials for applying the whip of the existing rules, restricting for any official transfer of land and any new construction. The residents demand the civil are be merged with the Municipal Council to live a comfortable life by becoming owners of residential houses and shops and make further renovations.
In this context, the Southern Command in Pune had written to the CEO of Cantt Boards in its area on the excision of civil areas from the limits of Cantonment with broad guidelines principles and merger with the adjoining State Municipalities – the property rights over all assets meant for providing civic amenities and municipal services in the excised area shall be transferred to State Government/State Municipalities free of cost, second, the assets and liabilities of the Cantonment Boards shall be transferred to State Municipality and third, the municipal cover over the leased /old grant properties in the excised area shall be transferred to State Municipality. The letter further directed to liaise with the State government officials to appraise the status mentioned in the minutes of the meeting and clarify doubts in consultation with the President of the Cantt Board. In principle, the Centre and the state governments, the Union Ministry of Defence have agreed to de-notify civil areas of various cantonments from the limits of cantonment Boards.
So far as the residents of Ferozepur areas are concerned, last year on August 27, the cantonment delegation met the country’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with a demand to increase the civil area of the cantonment and to postpone the action of cancellation of registrations of people by the Board administration.
Sources said that it could be possible only if the head, CEO and members of the Cantonment Board take a decision on this in the board meeting and write a letter to the Centre, then the process of merging the cantonment into the civil area will soon be expedited.
Dashmesh Sethi, a resident and businessman said that at the time of independence, the population of the cantonment was less and now due to the increase in population, the civil area should be increased and merged into its city council. By merging into the city council, they will become the owners of the land and they will also get many types of facilities. It is very unfortunate that in the city area across the railway bridge, there is no restriction or security threat for the construction of high-rise buildings whereas, in the cantonment area, it is.
Surinderpal Singh a resident of Mall Road said, that since most of the bungalows are within the cantonment military area, merging them into a civil area is not free from a security point of view. The bungalow association is also trying to reach out to the higher officials in this regard.
However, it is added that around 70 bungalows in the area have been occupied by the leaders of major political parties, industrialists, and doctors and few among them are former Minister Gurmeet Singh Rana Sodhi, former BJP MLA Sukhpal Singh Nannu, former Congress MLA Gurnaib Singh Brar, former Congress MLA Raminder Amla, and former Cabinet Minister Akali leader Janmeja Singh Sekhon.
