Merger of Secunderabad Cantonment into GHMC not in list; thanks to delay by Revanth Reddy govt

HYDERABAD: Denizens of Secunderabad Cantonment are in for a big shock.

The Government of India has not merged it with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). At least, for now.

Had Revanth Reddy Government processed the survey and initiated the process quickly, Secunderabad would have been among the list of those notified for excision. But, the State Government’s delay is said to be responsible for Secunderabad Cantonment not being included in the list, according to sources in Delhi.

The Union Ministry of Defence (MoD) on March 7 notified merger of 10 Cantonments across India to be merged with respective municipal corporations or municipalities.

However, the name of the biggest Cantonment in the country, Secunderabad Cantonment, is conspicuously absent in the list.

The 10 Cantonment boards notified by the MoD included: Dehradun and Clement Town Cantonments in Uttarakhand; Deolali Cantonment in Maharashtra; Fatehgarh, Babina, Shahjahanpur and Mathura Cantonments in Uttar Pradesh; Ajmer and Nasirabad Cantonments in Rajasthan and Ramgarh Cantonment in Jharkhand.

The notification by the Defence Ministry to denotify the civilian areas from the control of the cantonment boards said: “The Central Government, after consulting the state governments and cantonment boards, hereby declares its intention to exclude certain areas of the said cantonments and the merger of such areas with the state local bodies. Any objection by any inhabitant of a cantonment may be submitted to the central government through the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief within eight weeks from the publication of the notification.”

Also Read: Excision of Secunderabad Cantonment: Centre expedites merger with GHMC

The MoD had notified on July 23, 2023 to the state governments with 58 cantonments in different states of the country to consider merging civilian areas with neighbouring municipalities under the State Governments.” In fact, Khas Yol Cantonment had already been denotified and its civil areas now fall under Municipal Corporation, Dharamshala.

The denizens of Secunderabad Cantonment have been longing for the merger into GHMC for a long time.

The July notification had said: “In order to bring uniformity in municipal laws governing civil areas of Cantonments and adjoining State Municipal areas, it has been decided to consider to excise civil areas of certain Cantonments and merge them with neighbouring State municipalities. Accordingly, broad modalities for proposed excision of civil areas in 58 Cantonments have been shared with concerned State Governments for their comments.

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in its press release then: “The excision of civil areas and their merger with State Municipalities involves active consultation and concurrence of the concerned State Governments. Therefore, it is not feasible to provide any time-frame for its implementation.

Various representations have been received from public and elected representatives, and also from few State Governments requesting for excision of civil areas from Cantonments.

There is no bar on implementation of State Government schemes by concerned State Governments in Cantonment areas. All State Governments are already extending benefit of various schemes to the residents in Cantonments.

This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Ajay Bhatt in a written reply to Shri Jaggesh in Rajya Sabha today.”

The list of 58 Cantonments is attached below.