SHILLONG: One of the districts in Garo Hills has not been adequately covered by the National Cadet Corps (NCC) due to its remoteness and lack of educational institutions.
Informing this here on Tuesday, NCC Director General Lt Gen Vinod Vashisht said the NCC has so far covered 108 districts in the North East and its officers are reaching out to the 7-8 districts of the region where adequate attention has not been given so far.
He also claimed that Meghalaya has been adequately covered and there are other areas in the North East which need more attention. He, however, maintained that the NCC needs more ‘training areas’ in Meghalaya and the matter has been taken up with the State Government.
Asserting that the NCC is making best efforts to reach out to remote areas of the North East he added that the NCCs mission is to be “ready all the time to attend to the call of service to the nation”.
“NCC cadets are trained in a way that they can render a helping hand during natural disasters,” he added.
Vashisht said that the present strength of NCC cadets in the country is around 89000 and the number will cross 1 lakh by 2020.
According to Vashisht, the equipment in the naval units of the NCC located in Sibsagar and Guwahati are being replaced with new ones, besides new aircrafts are also being bought for the air units of the NCC which are located in Guwahati and other parts of the region.
“Flying will commence in two months time after the monsoon,” he said.
When asked how the NCC cadets can be protected from anti social elements operating in different states of the region, he said that the NCC will link the cadets with national integration and feeling of patriotism.
Stressing on the need to develop good educational institutions in the region for expansion of NCC, Vashisht added that having NCC programmes in schools and colleges is a matter of choice for the State Governments.
“49 colleges in the country have taken the initiative of having NCC as elective subject in last two years,” he said.
He also said that the books are ready and it is up to the State Government to decide when they want to take the exercise.
