Peeved over the Defence Ministry mulling over the closure of the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Gaya, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has written a letter to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh strongly protesting against the move as the OTA provided employment opportunities in the region and contributed to the economy.
However, sources in the Ministry said in New Delhi, Sikh Light Infantry Regimental Centre will be shifted once the OTA is shifted to Indian Military Academy(IMA), Dehradun. They said the army had proposed to the Defence Ministry to close down OTA due to underutilization of resources and the institute had become unviable.
In the letter written on Wednesday, Kumar said he came across the news of proposed closure of the OTA, Gaya, in some newspapers and digital media.
The Chief Minister, whose JD(U) is an alliance partner of the BJP, termed the development as "shocking and very disturbing."
The OTA, Gaya, which was set up in 2011, "not only provided employment opportunities in the region but also contributed towards economy and sense of security in the area", he added.
"It would be very inappropriate to close the Officers Training Academy at Gaya. This wrong decision by Ministry of Defence is against the state's interest and it would be a gross injustice to the people of Bihar," Kumar added.
Sources in New Delhi said the cadets training at OTA in Gaya, functional since 2011, are likely to be shifted to IMA, Dehradun and the vacated space might become the Sikh Light Infantry Regimental Centre soon. At present the Sikh Light Infantry Regimental Centre is co-located with the Rajput Regimental Centre, Fatehgarh in Uttar Pradesh.
Giving reasons for the proposed shutting down of the OTA, which trains technical entry scheme cadets and short service commission(SSC)cadets, officials said the institute was "not serving the purpose the way it was planned." Moreover, the resources were underutilized they said adding nearly 250 cadets are currently undergoing training to become officers against the institute's capacity of 750.
As of now there are three centres training cadets to become officers and they are namely IMA, Dehradun, Officers Training Academy(OTA), Chennai and Gaya OTA.
The decision to open the Gaya OTA was taken after the Kargil conflict in 1999 as it was anticipated that more youths will opt for a career in the army. Hence, the Army needed infrastructure for training and the Gaya institute was started.
However, the number of people who could qualify to become officers to join the Army did not take place, they said adding the youth were now more inclined to go in for jobs in the private sector and other spheres.
They also said even the OTA Chennai was able to fill 50 per cent of its seats as Short Service Commission obviously was not an attractive option for the aspiring youths to have a career in the armed forces.
Same is the case with IMA Dehradun which is training about 300 cadets less than its strength adding the academy has a capacity of 1,650.