Cantt area residents demand property rights under Svamitva Scheme

Contrary to the mandate of the Svamitva Scheme, the residents of 36 cantonments across the nation, including six from Himachal, are being denied the property rights in the ongoing excising exercise where the civilian areas are being excluded from the cantonment towns.

Svamitva, a Central government Scheme, aims at establishing clear ownership of property in rural inhabited areas, by mapping of land parcels using drone technology and providing ‘Record of Rights’ to village household owners with issuance of legal ownership cards to the property owners. The scheme is implemented with the collaborative efforts of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Revenue Department, State Panchayati Raj Department and Survey of India.

The cantonment residents, who have been residing there for over a century, are, however, being denied these rights, thus defeating the very purpose of this central scheme.

“As per the guiding principles communicated by the Ministry of Defence to the state government in June 2024, the ministry will continue to hold title rights over the land even after the civil area is handed over to the state government after the excising exercise. The residents will, therefore, be denied the benefits of the Svamitva Scheme,” pointed out Manmohan Sharma, general secretary, Himachal Pradesh Cantonments Association.

The association has demanded annulment of this clause from the guiding principles so that they too can reap benefits of the Svamitva Scheme. “Denying property rights to the cantonment residents who have been living in these towns since centuries will be akin to treating us like second grade citizens,” observed Sharma.

As per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of removing the symbols of colonial legacy, an exercise to exclude civilian areas from cantonments has been initiated. The armed forces are supposed to retain residual areas in the cantonments and use them as military stations.

Sharma further added that it is lamentable that nothing has been incorporated in the guiding principles enunciated by the MoD to fulfil the mandate of the Svamitva Scheme envisioned by the Prime Minister.

The residents have urged the PM to take a policy decision and provide them property cards encompassing full property rights as per the mandate of the Svamitva Scheme being implemented nationally.

Notably, a drone survey has also been completed in the six cantonment towns of Himachal comprising Kasauli, Subathu, Dagshai, Jutog, Dalhousie and Bakloh in January 2023 as per the mandate of the Svamitva Scheme. Further the mapping of notified civil area and area outside civil areas where the civilians reside has also been undertaken with yellow colour as per the directions of the defence officials.