K M Dayashankar
CM Revanth Reddy succeeds in convincing Union Government.
HYDERABAD, JUNE 30, 2024: Long wish of the Secunderabad Cantonment residents has finally been fulfilled. The Union Government notified the merger of the civil areas under the Cantonment Board with the GHMC. The Ministry of Defence issued orders to this effect.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy took a special initiative to solve the long pending merger of civil areas of Cantonment Board with GHMC. The CM taken up the matter with Defence minister every time during his Delhi tour. The Chief Minister also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to solve the issue during the latter’s visit to Telangana on March 5.
Following the CM’s regular appeal to the centre, the central government decided to abolish all the cantonment boards which have been existing since the British Colonial rule and merge them into the municipalities. State Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari had also written a letter to Union ministry of Defence requesting to release guidelines. The chief secretary also made it clear that State government is ready to speed up the merger process in a video conference held by Secretary of Union Defence ministry on June 25. As per the decision taken in the meeting, the defence ministry wrote letter on the modalities for the merger of civil areas in Cantonment areas with the municipalities.
According to notification, the civil areas in the cantonment will be merged into the GHMC. All the facilities and infrastructure provided to the people in the civil areas will be transferred to GHMC without any cost. All the assets and liabilities of the Cantonment Boards are also being transferred to the Municipality. With this , the GHMC will extend the residential areas of the cantonment except the military station. The GHMC has also been given powers to collect taxes in its new jurisdiction. However , the lands and properties owned by the central government will remain the same.
The Centre made it clear that the Civic bodies should give top priority to the maintenance of security of the armed forces. In accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Centre, the State Government and Cantonment officials have been asked to clear their doubts and take further action in tune with the guidelines stipulated by the centre.
