Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala, March 8

The Cantonment Board Ambala has not been getting service charges regularly from the Army. With the Army owing the board over Rs524 crore, its councillors have planned to raise the issue with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The annual expenditure of the board is between Rs50 crore and Rs60 crore, which includes salaries, maintenance, allowances and contingency funds. The present annual demand of service charges from the Army is Rs64 crore.

“The Army owes us over Rs524 crore. The payment of service charges has been irregular since 2008-09. Around Rs1 crore has been received this year. The board has limited revenue resources like rent, house tax and service charges. If we fail to get service charges, it will be very hard to function in the coming months,” said a senior board official.

“The board is like a local body and the Army pays service charges from the budget allocated by the Ministry of Defence. The board has been struggling in the absence of adequate funds and has decided to send project proposals to the Ministry of Defence to seek grants. If the situation remains the same, things will get difficult next year,” said Ajay Baweja, board vice-president.

“The matter was raised during a meeting with Brig VS Sankhyan, board president. He said he had been trying at his level and asked us to raise the issue. The situation is similar in other cantonment boards. We will meet Rajnath Singh and raise the issue as funds are to be released by the ministry,” he added.

“The board has not faced any major issue so far as it has been using its buffer, which has started decreasing. The board will have to send its projects to the ministry for grants. The board may face some issues in the long term. We have been raising the matter with the Army and the ministry. We are hopeful that the issue will be resolved soon,” said Anuj Goel, board chief executive officer.

Struggling to survive, say board officials

• Cantonment Board Ambala vice-president Ajay Baweja said the board is like a local body and its annual expenditure is between Rs50 crore and Rs60 crore
• The Army pays the board service charges from the budget allocated by the Ministry of Defence and owes it over Rs524 crore
• Baweja said the board had been struggling in the absence of adequate funds and has decided to send project proposals to the Ministry of Defence to seek grants