Ambala Cantonment

Ambala Cantonment is a cantonment town in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India. It is next to Ambala and is on the Grand Trunk Road. It is some 200 kilometres north of Delhi and 50 km south from Chandigarh.It is a major market for scientific products for school and colleges.

Overview

The Cantonment is from the British times as it lies at an important junction, from here one can take the road North to Chandigarh and onwards to Simla, or turn East towards Uttar Pradesh, or go west to Ludhiana, and onwards to Jalandhar and Amritsar - Lahore. It has a lot of colonial bungalows and wide tree lined roads typical of British Cantonements in the subcontinent. It also gets a mention in the Rudyard Kipling book Kim. The formation sign of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh Area (earlier Punjab Area) located here (a Taurus on a Red background) is a theme in the book. The formation sign still exists for an Indian Army formation in Shimla with some units affiliated to it still using the sign in Ambala.

It is currently the Headquarters of II Corps (India),(raised in 1970, formation sign Kharga) and an important forward Indian Air Force base.

The railway station is a prominent Junction and is located on the Grand Trunk Road. Just across the railway station is the bus stand. Some people believe that the cantonment is more well known than nearby Ambala city as it is on the Grand Trunk Road, which is not really the case. Ambala Cantt derives a lot of pride in just being associated to the land of princes, i.e. Ambala.

Demographics

As of 2001^[update] India census,^[1] Ambala Cantonment had a population of 61,625. Males constitute 60% of the population and females 40%. Ambala Cantonment has an average literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 64% of the males and 36% of females literate. 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

References