To facilitate more youth from the State to take up defence services as a career, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday virtually laid the foundation stone of an armed forces preparatory institute at village Bajwara in district Hoshiarpur.
The ambitious project will be executed at a cost of ₹27 crore over 12.75 acres by the PWD (B&R) Department and would be completed by the end of the year. The institute — Sardar Bahadur Amin Chand Soni Armed Forces Preparatory Institute — would train 270 candidates per year.
The Chief Minister said the institute would be instrumental in realising the dreams of the young sons and daughters of the State. “At a time when women pilot officers are flying the Rafale and helicopters, and are actively involved in every field of the armed forces, the day will soon come when girls in India will be part of the fighting force like their counterparts in other countries.”
The Chief Minister lauded the role played by the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI) at Mohali in training youth, enabling them to secure permanent commission through the National Defence Academy or equivalent service academy.
“Of the 144 cadets trained at the academy, 97 joined the NDA and 65 were commissioned as officers from April 1, 2017 to December 31, 2020. Since its inception, 156 of the 384 cadets trained at the AFPI had joined the NDA and 69 were commissioned as officers.” He said the number of trainees going into the armed forces from this institution had gone up to 45% from 2% initially.
The Chief Minister also referred to the stellar performance of the Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute for Girls at Mohali, which imparts training after class 12. “The prestigious institute has so far trained 75 cadets, of whom seven were selected for the Combined Defence Services Examination (CDSE)-Air Force Central Admission Test (AFCAT) and three were commissioned as officers from April 1, 2017 to December 31, 2020.”
