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The Defence Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee has said that a Bill has been recently introduced in the Rajya Sabha to amend Cantonments’ Act, 1924. Inaugurating the newly constructed office complex of the Directorate General of the Defence Estates in Delhi Cantonment today, he said that this Bill has been introduced so that the cantonments are administered more effectively and in a manner commensurate with the aspirations of the people. Shri Mukherjee said that this Bill has provisions for providing reservation in the Cantonment Boards for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes with special emphasis on women. The defence minister said that provisions have been made for enhancing the local revenue of this board, so that they can become self sufficient and also cater to the requirement of the area. Shri Mukherjee said that these cantonment boards will be “deemed municipalities” to enable them to get assistance from the centre and centre sponsored schemes. A whole new chapter has been added in the Bill for proper management of defence land throughout the country, he added.
The Defence Minister said that it is imperative that the land assets are optimally and appropriately used for the purpose for which they were acquired and allotted to different user organisations. Referring to the importance of documentation of land records, he said that new technology like micro filming, microfische and other computer archival methods should be introduced to ensure that such valuable records are not lost.
Underlining the importance of Defence Estates Organisation, the Minister said that it is the only organisation under the Ministry of Defence having a public interface. He said this also re-doubles their responsibilities as speed in service delivery system is sine-qua-non for effective public administration. Shri Mukherjee said to achieve this speed, it is essential that tools of management are properly provided and used.
The newly inaugurated Headquarters complex of the Directorate General of Defence Estates has been named Raksha Sampada Bhawan. The complex has been designed and constructed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (Civil Wing) in a time span of 26 months. Besides the main office building, it comprises transit hostel for the visiting officers, an auditorium, probationer’s hostel, dormitory for the visiting staff and residential accommodation for the officers. The National Institute of Defence Estates Management which is the training wing of the Defence Estates Organisation is also located in the same complex. The Directorate General Defence Estates is entrusted with the management of defence lands and civil administration of all the 62 cantonments spread over the country.
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