Cantt board V-Cs meet CM, request development benefits for their areas
LUCKNOW: The vice chairmen of 13 cantonment boards falling under the Central Command met at the Lucknow cantonment board office on Wednesday and discussed their strategy for the May 4 meeting with defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The meeting will focus on eradicating colonial-era laws, especially building by-laws.
The delegation of vice chairmen also met chief minister Yogi Adityanath at his residence to apprise him of the problems faced by elected representatives due to these archaic laws.
Vice chairman of Lucknow cantonment board Pramod Sharma said, “We requested the chief minister to use his influence with the ministry of defence to extend the development benefits to the population living in cantonment areas. It is high time that the ministry of defence looked into these issues to provide better living conditions to cantonment area residents.” Sharma said the delegation requested the CM to start revenue sharing with the cantonment boards just as the state government shared it with local bodies. “Colonial laws are old and discriminatory towards native people. That is why cantonment boards are deprived of funds. We also demanded a metro train route through the cantonment area. The CM assured us that he would take up the matter with the Metro authorities,” he said.
Sharma said that around 1.5km of the Gomti bank came under the cantonment area and the board wanted to beautify it just like other parts of the city. “The CM agreed to it,” he said.
The delegation included vice chairmen of cantonment boards of Faizabad, Fatehgarh, Kanpur, Danapur, Shahjahanpur, Mathura, Beena Vadwa (Meerut), Allahabad and Bareilly.
On Thursday, the vice chairmen will meet home minister Rajnath Singh, and on Friday, they will attend the all India conference of V-Cs in Delhi.
The ministry of defence has called the meeting of all the 62 cantonment board vice chairmen to get rid of British-era building by-laws, which are proving to be a big hindrance in the development of cantonment areas.