Army note suggests doing away with ‘divisions’ in peace areas

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 10

An Army internal note on restructuring has suggested changes to make the force “leaner”. This includes doing away with around 20 divisional headquarters.

In all, the Army has around 40 divisional headquarters, headed by a Major General. Ideally about three divisions report to a Corp Commander, a Lieutenant General.

This does not mean the division—10,000 to 14,000 troops—will be abolished, it’s just that the division will not have a separate headquarters as it adds to costs.

The note also suggested that the divisions under three separate Strike corps, the Mountain Strike Corps, 3 Corps Dimapur, 4 Corps Tezpur, 15 Corps Srinagar , 16 Corps Nagrota and those dual tasked in 10 Corps Bathinda, 11 Corps Jalandhar shall function as usual.

The final decision on the issue will be taken by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, which will need to be ratified by the Ministry of Defence. In areas where the division headquarters are abolished, the brigades that so far report to the Divisional Commander will report directly to the Corps and be called “task force”. The Corps headquarters will be beefed up to deal with the gap caused by doing away with the divisional headquarters.

Each divisional headquarters has at least 15 officers and around 100 jawans. The change will free them for deployment in operational areas. It will save on infrastructure costs and cut down red-tape, thus allowing for quicker decision-making.

The Army has inbuilt flexibility by which the Chief of Staff of the Corps can take over as the Divisional Commander, if needed. The idea is being crystallised and will be deliberated upon by Army Commanders.

Cantt road closure 

• While the Army has suggested closure of 70 roads inside cantonments, the Ministry of Defence on Friday issued a statement saying its May 28 order on the process of opening and closing of cantonment roads would be followed
• Effectively, the ministry would be the final authority on deciding ‘road closure’, while the Army would only have a ‘recommendatory’ role
• The latest statement said, “In case of roads, which the local military authorities consider necessary, the process of closure may be initiated as per due process laid down under Cantonment Act, 2006, and the orders issued by the ministry dated May 28, 2018, will be followed.”