Be gentle to poor living in cantonment areas: Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday urged Cantonment Boards to be gentle with the poor living within their jurisdictions, saying they should not fear officials and instead feel protected by them.

He was addressing a gathering at the Delhi Cantonment after giving away the Raksha Mantri Awards for Excellence 2019. The awards were introduced in 2013 to recognise the achievements in the field of health, education, cleanliness as well as new innovative and digitisation in Public Services and Land Management.

Singh also reiterated the government's commitment to provide high quality education and low-cost health to the poor sections of society. He appreciated that the residents of cantonment areas, especially civilians with low income, are being provided improved medical and health care. He hoped that these services will continue to expand and improve, catering to the needs of the people.

Appreciating the work of the Directorate General of Defence Estates, Singh said: "It is said that building organisation, commanding respect and earning property are difficult. However, more difficult it is to maintain these. Your department is doing the important work of managing defence land with an area of more than 17 lakh acres, catering to the land requirements of the three wings of the armed Forces and providing civil and municipal services to over 20 lakh residents of 62 cantonment areas of the country."

The Minister also appreciated the efforts being made by the department saying, "the goal of Defense Estate Organisation is to secure important land related interests of the Armed Forces and to cater to the needs and aspirations of the citizens of the cantonment area."

He suggested that officials should brainstorm periodically to improve the already well-maintained properties.

Singh also noted that the Cantonment Councils had carried out various important tasks under the "Digital India" programme.

"Public services have been made faster, efficient and accessible to people. An app has been created through which various services are being made available to the people whose complaints will reach the concerned officers in a time-bound manner," he said.