Patna,(BiharTimes): The Chief of Army Staff, General Bikram Singh, on Saturday reviewed the passing-out parade of the third batch of trainees of Officers’ Training Academy (OTA) in Gaya.

Speaking on the occasion he urged the cadets to follow the glorious traditions of the Indian Army and gain expertise in modern warfare and war technology. The parade was held in the Drill Square of the Academy. Thirty-seven special commissioned officers (SCOs) were inducted into the Army while 91 cadets completed their basic military training.

These 91 young officers comes from different engineering colleges, who had undertaken a B Tech course after completing one year of army training.

The OTA conducts training for the technical entry scheme (TES) and SCO entries. The cadets belonging to the former category join the academy after completing their 10+2 schooling while the cadets for the latter are selected from the rank and file of the armed forces.

The reviewing officer was accorded a salute by the parade followed by an impressive march-past.

Gen Singh gave away various awards to the cadets who had excelled in training. The gold medals for standing first in the Order of Merit for the SCO and TES entries were awarded to Rajesh Sharma and Kartikeya Rawat respectively.

Talking to the media he said army is facing shortage of more than 10,000 officers and OTA would help fulfil it.

General Bikram Singh and his wife also paid a visit to Bodh Gaya.