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| Officers’ Training Building Academy building in Gaya. Picture by Suman |
Gaya, July 15: Officers’ Training Academy (OTA) would start functioning from the district July 18 onwards. The OTA in Gaya is only the second such academy in the country, after Chennai.
“The inaugural flag would be hoisted on the OTA premises by the general officer commanding-in-chief of the Army Training Command, Lieutenant General K. Surendra Nath, on July 18 morning,” Amit Mahajan, the public relations officer (defence) told The Telegraph over phone from Allahabad.
Earlier, it was expected that the defence minister, A.K. Antony, would inaugurate the OTA in Gaya. However, it has been decided that there would be no inaugural ceremony for the time being and the academy would start functioning with the initial flag hoisting ceremony. A formal decision would be taken on an inaugural ceremony later.
The OTA in Gaya has been set up on the same campus that hosted the Army Services Corps (ASC) centre (north) since 1976, before being shifted to Bangalore in April this year.
Like the OTA in Chennai, training would be imparted to the officers of the Indian Army in Gaya.
Sources said training would be imparted to those individuals selected through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for the Indian Army. Apart from OTA in Chennai and now in Gaya, Indian Military Academy in Dehradun, is the other centre in the country where training to Indian army officials is imparted. A centre in Pune imparts training to all the three wings — army, navy and air force.
Preparations at the OTA have started in view of the formal beginning of the academy.
Buildings on the campus, gates and other structures have been painted. “Officers Training Academy, Gaya” has been carved out on the gates and all the other places, replacing Army Services Corps Centre (north). When ASC centre (north) was stationed here, a brigadier-rank army official was the commandant of the centre. Now, a major general rank army official would head the centre and at least four brigadier rank army officials besides officers of other ranks would also be here.
