Punjab CM lays foundation stone of armed forces preparatory institute in Hoshiarpur

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of Sardar Bahadur Amin Chand Soni Armed Forces Preparatory Institute at Bajwara in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district through video conferencing.

According to an official release issued by the Punjab government, the project will be executed at a cost of Rs 27 crore over an area of 12.75 acres by the Punjab Public Works Department (PWD) Building and Roads department and would be completed by the end of 2021.

"The upcoming institute is to facilitate more youth from the state to take up defence services as a career and will impart training to 270 candidates per year," the statement read.

During the event, the Chief Minister said that the new armed forces preparatory institute would be instrumental in realizing the dreams of Punjab's young sons and daughters to join the armed forces.

Captain Amarinder thanked Member Parliament (MP) Ambika Soni, the President of the Sardar Bahadur Amin Chand Soni Education Trust and Society, for providing the land to establish the institute as a gift to the Employment Generation, Skill Development & Training department.

On the occasion, the CM also lauded the role played by Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI) at Mohali, in providing defence training to youth, enabling them to secure a permanent commission in the Armed Forces through the National Defence Academy (NDA) or equivalent service academy.

The Chief Minister mentioned that out of 144 cadets trained at the academy, 97 joined NDA, and 65 were commissioned as officers from April 1, 2017, to December 31, 2020.

"Since its inception, 156 out of 384 cadets trained at AFPI had joined NDA and 69 were commissioned as officers," he said adding that from 2 per cent initially, the number of trainees going into the armed forces from this institution had gone up to 45 per cent.

"The prestigious institute has so far trained 75 cadets, of whom seven were selected for 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," Captain Amarinder informed.

Rahul Tiwari, Secretary of Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training department said that the upcoming armed forces preparatory institute would impart training to the aspirants for induction into Armed Forces, keeping the entry at the graduate level for CDSE/AFCAT.

"The institute will run three courses in a year of three months duration with intake capacity of 40 candidates, thus imparting training to 120 candidates in a year under its Entrance Exam Training Wing (EETW)," Tiwari said.

( With inputs from ANI )