PUNE: The Ministry of Defence will soon issue fresh guidelines for maintenance of old and damaged houses in army areas. If the structure of a house is not changed, citizens will be given immediate permission to repair the houses, said Union Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar.
Kumar was in the city recently to meet the presidents and chief executive officers of the Pune Cantonment Board, Khadki Cantonment Board and Dehu Road Cantonment Board. He also interacted with the board members to understand the issues which have remained unsolved for a long time.
Kumar interacted with citizens in the Pune Cantonment. He assured them that there will be a change in the guidelines which will raise the living standards of residents in the cantonment areas. Repairs of houses will be cleared in the coming days.
There are many old, British-era homes in the army area. As per cantonment section 235 of 2006, the owner has to approach the cantonment office to submit the building plan. As the process is lengthy and takes too much time, house repairs get delayed for a long time. The central committee headed by former Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose had also taken up the matter to review various pending questions of the 62 cantonments in the country. Now, the defence secretary’s announcement has given new hope to citizens that long-pending issues will be resolved soon.
Former Vice President and member of Pune Cantonment Board Atul Gaikwad said, “The meeting was fruitful. This is the first time when a defence secretary has interacted with citizens. We are hopeful that the matter will be resolved soon.”
