The Garden City of Bangalore will get one more prestigious defence establishment with the Defence Ministry deciding to relocate the headquarters of the Army Service Corps Centre (North) from Gaya in Bihar to Bangalore.
Announcing this during his maiden visit to Bangalore to participate in a programme organised to lay the foundation stone for a Rs. 600 crore housing project for Army personnel near Whitefield here, the Chief of the Army Staff, General V.K. Singh said the ASC Centre would increase in size by about 40 per cent after relocating to Bangalore. It would have around 5,000 staff.
General Singh said the relocation of ASC Centre to Bangalore would help the city as it would get “concurrent benefits” going by the mere size and volume of operations of the Centre. ASC is the logistics arm of the Army, which handles supplies for troops, ranging from arms and ammunition to food and clothing.
The ASC Centre (South) is located in Bangalore. General Singh said the exact location for the housing of the ASC Centre-North would be made known soon.
Making it clear that the shifting of the ASC Centre from Gaya was part of a national relocation plan, General Singh said an Officers' Training Academy would now be set up at Gaya to train Army officers. Such a training academy was a must as the country was facing a shortage of trained Army personnel, he said.
Later speaking to journalists, General Singh refused to comment on the situation in Kashmir and the different views being expressed by political leaders on the issue. “It is not proper on my part to comment on the issue when the Parliament is discussing it,” he said.
