New Delhi: On February 17, 2010,the Centre is giving its final approval for the setting up of new Officers’ Training Academy (OTA) in Gaya, Bihar, in order to meet acute shortage of officers in the Indian Army. To begin with, the Gaya academy will commence training with 250 officers annually. Gradually, in the due course of time, it will be upgraded to its full design capacity to train 750 officer cadets.
As per sources, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has given its approval for the opening of a second OTA at Gaya, in addition to the one already existing in Chennai. With this, the Army will have three officers-training institutions, besides the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun, which trains close to 1,000 officers and the Chennai OTA that has a capacity of over 500. The Army, through this academy, is going to supplement its capacity to commission more Short Service Commission (SSC) officers to fill vacancies especially in junior and middle ranks. Moreover, the academy will also train officer cadre from friendly foreign countries.
The project would cost approximately Rs 360 crores and would offer better employment and economic opportunities in the area. OTA at Gaya would have state-of-the-art infrastructure and training facilities. The new academy will come up on a 600-acre campus in Gaya, which was, earlier the location of Army Service Corps (North) Centre. Presently, the ASC centre has been moved to Bangalore, which was opposed by the locals.
