Introduction

Introduction Cantonments in General: Cantonments are special function towns, established by the British in India, during the colonial period. They have been superimposed or literally grafted on to the Indian soil by virtue of certain historical factors. The Cantonments were the creation of the British, to suit their felt or perceived needs to Rule over India. At first, serving purely military needs, the Cantonments grew into urban settlements of a unique kind and hence are of special interest to urban geographers, all over the world. Pune Cantonment: Cantonments all over India, exhibited similarity of plan and character and hence have a tendency to look alike. Pune Cantonment town which is the focus of study here, is also like the other Cantonment towns in layout and character. It was set up close to Pune city, in 1818, after the conquest of Pune by the British. It ultimately grew into not only a very large camp settlement, but soon acquired a sort of conglomerate form in relation to other smaller Cantonments which were set up to it's north and north-west. Thus the Pune-Khadki-Dehu Road Cantonments together comprise a vast area under the charge of the Southern Command. Like others, the Pune Cantonment town too, is divided into three customary main areas: The Military Area, the Bungalow Compound Complex Area and the Civil Lines. The Military area and the Bungalow compound complex areas were planned on a grid plan with broad straight 1 streets, lined with trees and the bungalows within their large compounds. There were also military requirements of parade grounds, firing ranges, etc., all of which required vast open spaces. This type of planning later had a strong influence on the city planners and became a new type of model for subsequent development in the city. The building rules and the planning pattern were regulated by the Cantonment Codes, Acts and other Rules which are valid even today. The Bazaar area in the Civil Lines is populated mostly by Indians. This reflects a more traditional pattern. Here, though the street grid and building bye-laws were strictly adhered to, the houses exhibited a more interesting street facade, being a blend of vernacular and western design. The spaces behind them and away from the main roads, replicated the urban spaces of the old city. A vibrant and articulated street facade developed due to the influence of European and Indian elements. Today, this whole historical formation is now under threat and Pune Cantonment town is also facing pressing problems. Some are genuine difficulties of residents, arising out of outdated administrative set up of the Cantonment itself. Some other problems arise out of the vested interests and corruption which also play their part in the growing demands to excise the bungalow area from the jurisdiction of the military and merge it with the city to give a free hand to the advocates of 'development'. One cannot deny that there is an urgent need to repair and renew some of the old fabric, but it cannot be done at the cost of sacrificing the best advantages of the Pune Cantonment town in relation to Pune city. These not only include a meticulously planned urban environment, housing some of the 2 classic heritage value residences but the very nature of the Cantonment as an 'island of sanity' and a 'green lung' for the chaotic urban growth that typifies the city, which is itself an invaluable asset. Lack of Studies on Cantonments: The studies of Cantonment towns, surprisingly are few and far between, especially by geographers and other social scientists, though the Cantonments were developed as special function towns and were essentially a legacy of British Colonial Rule and moreover restricted to India alone. Few analytical studies on the urban characteristics of Cantonments have been undertaken so far, though the Cantonments by and large, have had a great impact on the Indian urban system from the nineteenth century onwards. Even in the contemporary urbanization process, the future of such Cantonment towns is a relevant issue, which needs careful consideration. The most important question before planners and the government authorities today is whether the Cantonments should be allowed to exist in their original state or should they be merged with the adjoining urban area of the old city. Among the number of considerations which the local self government are confronted with are: can such anachronistic urban features like the Cantonments be allowed to exist? The Cantonments are seen by some as instruments of dependence of a foreign rule, others view them as moribund urban forms with little dynamism, while some others feel that they are the only green lungs left in the highly congested and polluted old city, as 'islands of sanity'. 3 Objective and purpose of the study :- Despite providing a very interesting case of an alien urban landscape, unique to the Indian sub-continent, strangely, few studies by geographers have been undertaken on Cantonment towns. It is therefore, the purpose of this research, to study the Cantonment towns as a special category of urban settlement within the larger urban systems prevailing in India. Besides analyzing its salient features, a major concern will be to question its very raison-dejetre^in the changing urban fabric of the country since Independence. In addition, a comprehensive account of the concept of Cantonment towns, their present functioning and their role in future urban development/planning will be assessed in some detail. The analysis would raise a number of issues, that are currently being debated in various forums: like the merging of Cantonment towns with the rest of the urban areas. Should they be allowed to continue in their present form - since they appear to be anachronisms in the present urban system, is a topic of great concern to development planners and the government. The status of Cantonment lands and the prevailing administrative structure which remains largely unchanged is another vexing issue which is to be critically examined. These are some of the questions that the study proposes to examine and offer some concrete suggestions, especially about the future prospects of Cantonment towns in India. For the purpose of this analysis, the case study of Pune Cantonment, which is one of the largest in India and an important station in Southern India, is used. 4 Methodology: Besides the larger volume of literature on Cantonment towns by bureaucrats, resident British officers and writers, the study leans heavily on both, the primary and secondary sources of data. The secondary sources of data include the Gazetteers of the Bombay Presidency, especially the Poona District Gazetteer, Vol. XVHI Part m 1885. The History of Poona Cantonment from 1818-1953 and the Suburban Municipality- Sixty Years' History from 1884-1944, both by M.H. Moledina, are valuable early sources of the workings of the Cantonment Board. In addition, Poona- A Socio-Economic Survey. Part I & H by D. R. Gadgil (1945) Gokhale Institute Publication No. 12 and 25, are supplementary sources of information on the economic base of Pune Cantonment, its relationship with the city and other spheres of interaction with Pune Municipality. For the latest information on the social structure of the Cantonment, the Electoral Role for 1996, published for the seven wards covering each household, street-wise, was used. In addition to the above published sources, primary data was also collected, using the ward as the basic unit of analysis. For this, a questionnaire schedule was used and personal interviews of respondents recorded. This data was also used for deriving the social areas within the Cantonment town, with the help of the factorial ecology approach. Oral histories of senior citizens residing in the Cantonment town were also used to construct past patterns. The landuse pattern and urban morphology of the three distinct urban landscapes i.e., the Military Area, the Civil Lines and the Sadar Bazaar, was determined on the basis of actual 5 field survey. The maps showing the administrative divisions, used to represent various features, were obtained from the Pune Cantonment Board Office and from other studies which have used the maps obtained from the British Library, London.. For most quantitative analysis, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used. The cartographic representation was done using Autocad while some maps and figures were also drawn manually. Rare photographs, showing the landscape of the Cantonment town, in the early decades of the present century, were obtained form the old residents and photo-studios. Newspaper articles, especially, the Maharashtra Herald, Indian Express and The Times of India were valuable sources of information, atleast for the last three decades. A Brief Outline of the Contents of the Chapters is given below: The study is organized into six chapters. In the first Chapter, the concept of Cantonment, its various definitions, the important considerations in the location, siting and distribution of Cantonments will be discussed. In Chapter Two, the specific case of Pune Cantonment town using an historical spatial perspective is presented. The origin and the later development of Pune Cantonment, its salient features, its areal extent, its main components and the administration machinery, will all form the focus of special investigation. The Chapter, Three (A&B), analyses the salient morphological features and carves out the functional zones within the Pune Cantonment town. The three distinct functional areas of the Cantonment town, viz.- the Bungalow-compound complex and the Military area, the Civil Lines and 6 the Bazaar area have been identified here and the overall personality of these three main components are examined in detail. Chapter Four concentrates exclusively on the Sadar bazaar section, - one of the most dynamic areas of the Cantonment town.

Load more