The taskforce would recommend the committee that it would be appropriate to close 13 cantonments and retain 15 camps to accommodate the remaining 9,711 Maoist combatants, sources in the taskforce said. [break]
The Special Committee had formed the taskforce on February 13 to recommend the names of the cantonments that should be shut down after the release of 7,365 combatants who chose voluntary retirement. While forming the taskforce, the Special Committee had decided to close down the 14 of the 28 cantonments.
“Reducing the number of the cantonments will invite problems in the management of the cantonments to be shut down. So it would not be wise to close half the number of cantonments,” said a member of the secretariat of the Special Committee.
The taskforce has concluded that the cantonments where the remaining combatants are to be moved badly need repairs, and the repair work would take more than a month, said a source.
In addition, the retired combatants also took away logistics from the cantonments when they left.
“Combatants cannot be moved to other cantonments that lack logistics,” said the source on condition of anonymity. “We will need additional budget for necessary logistics in the cantonments.”
Similarly, the taskforce has also concluded that the government will need a large number of security personnel for the security of properties in the cantonments to be shut down, a source added.
The next meeting of the Special Committee is expected to discuss the report of the taskforce led by secretariat member Ramananda Mishra. The date for the meeting has not been fixed yet.
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