A cantonment (/kænˈtɒnmənt/, /kænˈtoʊnmənt/, or UK: /kænˈtuːnmənt/) is a type of military base.[1] In South Asia, a cantonment refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British Raj).[1] In United States military parlance, a cantonment is, essentially, "a permanent residential section (i.e., barrack) of a fort or other military installation".
The word cantonment, derived from the French word canton, meaning corner or district,[2] refers to a temporary military or winter encampment. For example, at the start of the Waterloo campaign in 1815, while the Duke of Wellington's headquarters were in Brussels, most of his Anglo–allied army of 93,000 soldiers were cantoned, or stationed, to the south of Brussels.[3]
In Bangladesh, cantonments are residential quarters for many military personnel as well as headquarters for different army units. A wide variety of military training is provided in Bangladesh cantonments:
At India's Independence in 1947, India had 56 cantonments. After this India added 6 cantonments the last being Ajmer Cantonment in 1962, taking the total number to 62. They covered an area of 161,000 acres (650 km2).[6]
On 24 July 2024, a press release notified that, in order to move on from older Colonial-era concepts, Ministry of Defence has decided to give up responsibility to consider to excise civil areas of certain Cantonments and merge them with neighbouring State municipalities. As of then, there were 58 Cantonments of which 10 were to be handed over in the first phase. The administration of civil areas was to be handed over from Cantonment Boards to the neighbouring Municipalities while the military region was to remain with the Armed Forces.[9][10][11] However, on 27 April 2024, KhasYol had become the first cantonment board to be "de-notified".[12]
On 2 September 2024, it was reported that paperwork are being completed to handover civilian areas of Cantonments from the Indian Army. The Cantonments include Dehradun, Deolali, Nasirabad, Babina, Ajmer, Ramgarh, Mathura, Shahjahanpur, Clement Town and Fatehgarh. The report sain, "Indian Army's Central Command, South Western Command and Southern Command are in the process of completing the hand over exercise in coordination with Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh governments."[6]
Major cantonments and garrisons include the following:[13]
The United States military commonly uses the term "cantonment" to describe the permanent facilities at U.S. Army training bases as opposed to the field training areas. Cantonment areas often include housing (such as barracks and maid-service quarters), dining facilities, training classrooms, exchanges, and paved air fields.[18]
^ abcSheikh, Omer; Ali, Amna (26 October 2009). "Lahore Cantonment". geocities.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2009. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
^"THE CANTONMENTS ACT, 1924" (PDF). indiacode.nic.in. India Code. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
^ abcdefghijklRay, Kalyan. "Ten army cantonments to be handed over to civil authorities". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
^"Annual Report 2018-19: Ministry of Defence" (PDF). mod.gov.in. Ministry of Defence. p. 131. Retrieved 4 May 2022. The Ministry of Defence owns approximately 17.57 lakh acres of land throughout the country managed by the three Services and other Organizations like DGDE, Ordnance Factory Board, DRDO, DGQA, CGDA etc. The Army has the maximum of the land i.e. 14.147 lakh acres followed by Air Force 1.40 lakh acres and Navy 0.44 lakh acres. The defence land inside the notified Cantonments is approximately 1.57 lakh acres and the remaining around 16.00 lakh lies outside the Cantonments
^"Directorate General Defence Estates Main menu". Directorate General Defence Estates. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
^"MOVING AWAY FROM THE BRITISH-ERA CONCEPT OF CANTONMENT TOWNS". Press Information Bureau. 24 July 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
^"Defence Ministry denotifies civil areas of 10 cantonments". The Indian Express. 7 March 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
^"Military Cantonments To Lose Control On Civil Areas. What This Means". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
^ ab"Khasyol in Dharamshala 1st Cantonment in country to lose civilian area control". The Times of India. 29 April 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
^"Cantonment Boards". pib.gov.in. Press Information Bureau. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
^Malagi, Shivakumar G. (16 August 2017). "Ballari's jail walls have many a story to tell". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
^"Sarhad Conservation Network® Reports: Book on Peshawar Cantonment Launched". 27 October 2009. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Singapore Police Force". Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
^"Marseilles Training Center". www.il.ngb.army.mil. Retrieved 7 April 2018.