Two years after closure, Mansa training centre for army aspirants revived
BHIKHI (MANSA) : Two years after the C-PYTE (Centre For Training and Employment of Punjab Youth) in the Community Centre of Borawal village, 25 kilometres from district headquarters in Mansa city on the Bhikhibudhlada road, was closed down due to shortage of staff, efforts from villagers have revived it.
Operational since May 1 this year, 95 trainees from the district aged 17-19 are preparing for the army recruitment drive in Patiala in August 2018.
The centre offers free training for recruitment that retired army officers conduct, accommodation and food and the government is footing the bill of around ₹2 lakh a month.
Across the state, the government trains 2,000 aspirants in 14 C-PYTE camps.
TEACHER CREDITED WITH RESTART
Gurmail Singh, a government teacher and a Borawal resident, is credited with restarting the camp. “I had started a campaign for revival of the centre in 2016. I also met Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal to no avail. Finally, in 2017, I managed to approach the Punjab chief minister’s office (CMO). Officials there assured me, in a written reply, that the centre would be reopened,” says Gurmail, adding that since 2009, 1,000 children had been recruited to the forces from the camp.
The first target for the trainees is to learn and pass a 12-week physical training and written test.
Those who clear the physical section of the army’s recruitment is further trained for the written test for eight weeks.
MEDICALS ALSO DONE
Borawal camp commandant Colonel Fateh Singh Virk (retd) said, “In pre-training, aspirants are equipped to clear all parameters. We also conduct their medical before the actual recruitment to bring clarity on the exact picture.” He added that the Mansa district administration had been very supportive, while villagers had contributed by levelling land and maintaining cleanliness.
Borawal training officer Major Balkaran Singh Mann (retd) said, “We have divided the training into different sessions, including physical training in morning, teaching at noon and a games session in the evening. We also give lessons on social awareness so that aspirants stay away from drugs.”
Sukhchain Singh, 18, of Sardulgarh, a trainee at the camp, said, “We are grateful to villagers as otherwise we will have had to pay hefty amount to a private training centre. The training itself would have been unaffordable. This also allows us to wean our friends away from drugs.”
› In pretraining, aspirants are equipped to clear all parameters. We also conduct medical test before actual recruitment to bring clarity COL FATEH SINGH VIRK (RETD), camp commandant