India has initiated a plan to abolish 62 cantonments around the country in order to convert them into “exclusive military stations”, it emerged on Wednesday.

The Times of India (TOI) reported on Monday that the plan was to carve out the military areas in all cantonments and convert them into “exclusive military stations” with the Indian army exercising “absolute control” over them.

The publication went on to say that the civilian areas would be merged with local municipalities, which would then be responsible for their maintenance.

“The process will be faster in cantonments where demarcation between civil and military areas is easy. Others will take time,” the report quoted an unnamed official as saying.

Meanwhile, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday that the first cantonment to be renamed a military station was Yol in India’s northern Himachal Pradesh state, with Secunderabad in Telangana and Nasirabad in Rajasthan among the cantonments set to shrink.

However, the report said that not all cantonments were likely to become military stations.

“To be sure, not all cantonments are likely to become military stations as the army and civilian pockets are intertwined and that may not permit a segregation,” the report quoted officials familiar with the development as saying.

The carving out of military stations by merging civilian areas with the local civic bodies will benefit all stakeholders, the officials said.

The officials were also quoted as saying that civilians who were not getting access to state government welfare schemes through the municipal corporations and municipalities would be able to avail the schemes after civilian areas become part of the local bodies, and the army will also be able to focus more on the development of the military stations.