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Jabalpur Cantonment is one of the largest amd most important cantonments of India which is spread in a beautifully developed vast and green area admeasuring about 7040 acres and population of 66499 as per 2001 Census. It comprises Civil areas, Army formations and establishments like HQ Madhya Bharat Area, JAK Rifles Regimental Centre, Grenadiers Regimental Centre, 1 Signal Training Centre, College of Material Management, Central Ordnance Depot, 506 Army Base Workshop, Military Hospital, HQ Chief Engineer Jabalpur Zone , Military Dairy Farm and HQ Recruiting Zone. Besides it, civil organizations under Ministry of Defence are Cantonment Board , Defence Estates Officer Jabalpur Circle and Controller of Defence Accounts. Bharat Ratna Bhimrao Ambedkar Institute of Telecom Training is also situated in Jabalpur Cantt which is a national level training institute of senior officers of BSNL.
Jabalpur Cantonment is located near the Railway Station and is well connected with prominent establishments and residential localities of the city. NH-12, 12 A and 7 join it with other cities / states. Jabalpur is the headquarter of West Central Railways and is well connected with mail and super-fast trains from Mumbai, New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Kolkatta, Patna, Lucknow, Chennai, Bangalore, Nagpur, Kota, Jaipur, Jammu & Hyderabad. Apart from broad-gauge railways, Jabalpur is notable for having narrow-gauge railways, which connect with Gondia. It is well connected by air to Delhi, Indore and Gwalior by Indian and Kingfisher Airlines.
Cantonment Boards are statutorily constituted local bodies, comprising of elected representatives, ex-officio and nominated members. Jabalpur Cantonment is a Class-I Cantonment in which the Board normally consists of President, Chief Executive Officer, eight elected members including the Vice president, 03 nominated members, 02 ex-officio members (besides the Station Commander as President) i.e. Garrison Engineer and SEMO and one nominated member of the District Magistrate. The CEO is a senior officer from the Indian Defence Estates Service, Group A (one of the Central Civil Services) who also acts as the Member-Secretary of the Board. The Station Commander of the Station is the Ex-officio President of the Cantonment Board who presides over the meetings of the Board. The GOC-in-Chief, of the Army Command concerned, acts as the local Govt. for the Cantonment Boards situated within his Command.
The administration of the Cantonment Boards is supervised by the Defence Estates Organization. The Principal Director, Defence Estates (PDDE) who is a senior officer of the level of Additional Secretary to the Govt. of India, is posted at the Headquarters of each Army Command. The PDDE, apart from being advisor to the GOC-in-C, has important role to control and direct the functioning of the Cantonment Boards. He further reports to the Director General, Defence Estates (DGDE), New Delhi. The DGDE is an officer of the level of Secretary to the Govt. of India who supervises and directs the administration of 62 Cantonment Boards located in India. He further reports the Ministry of Defence.
The present President is Brig. S.K.Pillai, VSM while Shri K.J.S.Chauhan, IDES is the Chief Executive Officer of Jabalpur Cantt Baord.
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