An NCC cadet participates in an equestrian performance
Lt Gen Virendra Vats, the director general of NCC at the group headquarters of Pune, on Wednesday Personnel of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) participate in a parade at Mehdipatnam Military Garrison in Hyderabad An NCC cadet participates in an equestrian performance Lt Gen Virendra Vats, the director general of NCC at the group headquarters of Pune, on Wednesday Personnel of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) participate in a parade at Mehdipatnam Military Garrison in Hyderabad An NCC cadet participates in an equestrian performance Pune: Maharashtra , one of the country’s largest and consistently high-performing National Cadet Corps (NCC) directorates with nearly 1.5 lakh cadets, does not have any dedicated NCC academy, senior NCC officers said on Wednesday. The demand assumes significance given that Maharashtra’s directorate has won the prestigious Prime Minister’s Banner 20 times, the highest among NCC directorates across the country. Each proposed academy would require at least 12 acres of land, besides accommodation, training facilities, kitchens and other supporting infrastructure. The estimated cost of each academy is over Rs 100 crore, taking the potential requirement for seven academies to over Rs 700 crore.
Maharashtra therefore required seven academies where we could train at least 1,000 cadets at a time,” he said.
Our consultations and discussions with the state govt have been going on for the last few years, but there has been no progress yet,” Vats told TOI . Tyagi said Maharashtra required seven dedicated NCC academies, corresponding to its seven NCC group headquarters. The infrastructure deficit has affected the conduct and quality of training programmes, forcing the state to rely heavily on private colleges and other institutional campuses to organise camps for large cadet batches. NCC Director General Lieutenant General Virendra Vats and Maharashtra NCC Additional Director General Major General Vivek Tyagi flagged these issues during their visit to NCC Group Headquarters in Pune. “States such as Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have their dedicated NCC academies. Maharashtra does not have one. It is affecting the overall training of our cadets. “As per the NCC Act, it was mandatory for the state govt to establish an academy for each group headquarters.
Vacancies are in the range of 40% to 60%, which is a big gap. ” NCC is simultaneously expanding its footprint in Konkan, remote parts of Vidarbha and other parts of the state to bring more youngsters into the organisation. The national picture NCC has around 20 lakh cadets attached to 102 group headquarters nationwide. Its enrolment has grown from about 14 lakh to 20 lakh over the past 12 years, with an average annual increase of around 15% since 2014. However, there are only 12 dedicated NCC academies in India, while land acquisition has been completed for another 40 proposed academies. Around 150 armed forces officers are posted at NCC group headquarters across the country.
We therefore have to hire staff on a contractual basis every year. Therefore, we are in the process of shifting the Mumbai flying base to Kolhapur. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Pune | Silver Rate in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune | Petrol Price in Pune | Diesel Price in Pune | CNG Price in Pune | LPG Price in Pune Stay updated with the latest Pune news.
An academy project at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar was inaugurated a few months ago, but work on the project has not progressed as expected, officials said. It remained a tough task for us to conduct these programmes smoothly,” Tyagi told TOI . The officers said the proposed academies could eventually incorporate modern modules such as drone operations and cyber technology. The govt needs to consider these aspects seriously,” Tyagi said. An officer said, “State is supposed to recruit civil staff required for administrative work at the group headquarters. Airstrip insufficiency a boon for NCC cadets Paucity of available airstrips, especially in Pune and Mumbai, makes it challenging for NCC air-wing cadets to conduct flying training in Maharashtra, Vats told TOI . Likewise, we are open to relocating flying training to a suitable place, but again we will face several logistical challenges,” he said.
“Currently, we have to depend on private college campuses where we organise camps and training. “With the advent of technology, its use in the armed forces is vast. We also want to acquaint our cadets with drone and cyber technology and training. The dedicated academies will have these facilities in the future. It is for the talented youth of the state. NCC has also proposed that large campuses of govt institutions, including agriculture colleges and ITIs, as well as suitable private engineering colleges, be made available for training activities until dedicated academies are established. Staff shortage adds to infra challenge NCC officers also flagged a shortage of civilian staff at NCC group headquarters across Maharashtra. However, permanent recruitment has not been done for years. It is a time-consuming process. Deepak Singla, commissioner of sports and youth services, under whose department NCC directorate functions, did not respond to calls from TOI seeking comment. “It has become a major challenge for us to conduct flying trainings for our cadets in Mumbai. Under the NCC training module, senior division air cadets are required to undertake four sorties on microlight training aircraft during their final year. Two new NCC directorates have been approved for Jharkhand and Telangana. Download the TOI App.