Chandigarh prides itself for housing a large number of defence personnel, especially senior officers from the Indian Armed Forces. The city is the capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana, which are the leading contributors to the armed forces of India. In addition, it offers the best living conditions in the country and provides employment in government jobs without any domiciliary restrictions. Therefore, a large number of defence personnel are settled here, who have made Chandigarh their selected place of residence. The population of ex-servicemen in Chandigarh has grown rapidly in the last decade. The ex-servicemen, who retire early from the military service, need to be re-habilitated. The Zila Sainik Welfare Office is the nodal agency involved in their welfare and helps them by way of getting employment or undertaking self employment and also attending to other welfare aspects.
Zila Sainik Board (UT) was constituted on 01 Apr 1978 to look after the welfare and resettlement of ex-servicemen, servicemen, widows and their dependents residing in UT Chandigarh. Prior to 1978 they were being looked after by the District Soldiers, Sailors & Airmen Board, Ambala Cantt. The Zila Sainik Board was re-designated as Zila Sainik Welfare Office on 11 Jan 1985 with Zila Sainik Welfare Officer nominated as head of the office and is located in Sector 21-D, Chandigarh. The Department is under Deputy Commissioner, Chandigarh and Home Secretary is the Administrative Secretary for the Department.
The Zila Sainik Board continues to be constituted by Chandigarh Administration, with Deputy Commissioner Chandigarh being the President of the Board and Zila Sainik Welfare Officer as ex-officio Secretary. The composition of the ZSB is as under:-
(a) President Deputy Commissioner, Chandigarh
(b) Vice President Brig Balvinder Singh (Retd)
(c) Members
(i) Ex-officio Members
(aa) SDM (C), Chandigarh
(bb) Director Recruiting HQ Recruiting Zone, Ambala Cantt
(cc) Representative of Station HQ, Chandimandir
(ii) Non-Officio Members
(aa) Lt Col Raj Kumar Singh (Retd)
(bb) Capt Shikha Saxena (Retd)
(d) Secretary Zila Sainik Welfare Officer, UT, Chandigarh