Jagadish Shettar, MP of Belgaum, met with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the longstanding demand in Belgaum for transferring all civilian areas and lands currently under the jurisdiction of the Belgaum Cantonment Board. Shettar requested clear instructions from the Minister to the Cantonment Board officials to prepare a proposal for transferring these civilian areas to the Belgaum City Corporation, in accordance with Ministry of Defence guidelines. He also urged for the identification of all civilian areas within the Cantonment Board and the drafting of a detailed proposal to be submitted to the Government of Karnataka for further action. The Minister has agreed to proceed accordingly.
A memorandum was submitted to the Defence Minister concerning the revision of the Cantonment Board’s proposal regarding the excision of civil areas from the Belgaum Cantonment limits in Karnataka. The matter was discussed during a special meeting convened by the Cantonment Board on July 6, 2024, attended by elected representatives including Sri Iranna Kadadi, MP (Rajya Sabha), and Sri Asif Sait, MLA of Belgaum (North), along with myself. During the meeting, the CEO of the Cantonment presented a plan proposing the transfer of only 112 out of 1763 acres of land to the Karnataka State Government. This land includes 54 acres already occupied by the State Government for over a century (housing the Forest Department, RTO, Bus Terminal, Circuit House, and IB), while the remaining 58 acres constitute the densely populated and challenging-to-manage bazaar area.
Concerns were expressed by all elected representatives present regarding the implementation of the Ministry of Defence’s directives dated June 25, 2024, which call for the excision of entire civil areas in Cantonments, not just the notified civil areas. Despite the Ministry’s directive being described as non-negotiable, the CEO’s presented plan did not encompass the complete excision of the entire civil area, including the Old Grant Bungalows. Instead, it focused solely on the notified civil area, designated for commercial use.
The proposed plan is feared to impose a significant financial burden on the City Corporation’s budget and may lead to conflicts when the Corporation attempts to levy taxes or undertake infrastructure projects in areas beyond its territorial jurisdiction. Despite objections and a demand for a subsequent meeting on July 13, 2024, to address necessary amendments to the plan, the minutes of the meeting currently circulated do not reflect the presence of elected representatives or their concerns raised.
In light of these issues, a request is made to the Defence Minister to intervene and instruct the Belgaum Cantonment Board authorities to prepare an excision proposal aligned with the directives of the Government of India. The attached appeal from Sri P V Telkar, former Regional Director, A II of LSG, and Sri Sajeed Shaik, Former Vice-President of the Cantonment Board Belgaum, provides further details on the matter.
