Secunderabad Cantonment Board gets ₹2.82 crore grant-in-aid, residents’ body calls it ‘injustice’

The Ministry of Defence has sanctioned a Grant-in-Aid of ₹304.62 crore to 50 deficit Cantonment Boards across the country for the financial year 2025–26. As part of this, the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has received a grant-in-aid of ₹2.82 crore. This has sparked strong criticism from local residents and civic groups.

According to the 2011 Census, the population of Secunderabad Cantonment stands at around 2.25 lakh, but unofficial estimates indicate that the current figure exceeds 4.5 lakh. Civic representatives have described the allocation as injustice for a Class-I Cantonment with such a large and growing population. The Cantonment Vikas Manch, a local citizens’ body, pointed out that several smaller cantonments with populations of less than 50,000 have been granted allocations ranging from ₹6 crore to ₹25 crore. The group has questioned the criteria and methodology used by the Ministry in determining the grant amounts, arguing that the disparity highlights a lack of fairness in the distribution process.

According to the sanction order issued on October 27, Meerut Cantonment received the highest Grant-in-Aid of ₹25 crore, followed by ₹19.9 crore for Pune Cantonment, ₹18.6 crore for Agra Cantonment, ₹17.7 crore for Jabalpur Cantonment and so on.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, October 28 the Cantonment Vikas Manch demanded that a special board meeting be convened immediately to discuss the allocation and that a revised proposal seeking at least ₹30 crore be sent to the Ministry of Defence. It also urged the Board to expedite the reconciliation and recovery of pending service charges and dues owed to it.

The group warned that failure to address the issue promptly would adversely affect developmental activities and welfare measures in the Secunderabad Cantonment area. It appealed to both the Cantonment Board and the Central Government to take the matter up with urgency and seriousness in the public interest.

Speaking to The Hindu, Arvind Kumar Dwivedi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Secunderbad Cantonment Board said that the allocation was done based on the financial performance of each cantonment board.