Hooda urges Antony to open military school in Jhajjar

Chandigarh, Aug 29 (UNI) Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today urged Union Defence Minister A K Antony to open a military school at Matanhail village in Jhajjar district, the foundation stone of which was laid by then Union Defence Minister George Fernandes.

The Chief Minister made this request to the Union Defence Minister at a function organised at Gokhra village in Rewari district where Mr Antony laid the foundation stone of a Sainik School.

This would be the second Sainik School in Haryana and 24th in the country. One such Sainik School is already functioning at Kunjpura in Karnal district of Haryana.

While addressing a large gathering on this occasion, Mr Antony was all praise for the Haryana Government saying that it was the fastest developing state of India and had been contributing maximum soldiers in the Armed Forces.

Other states should follow Haryana in formulating and implementing welfare schemes for the serving soldiers, ex-servicemen and their dependents, he added.

Mr Antony announced that after opening a new Department in the Union Ministry of Defence for the ex-servicemen, the Central government would soon set up an ex-servicemen Commission to recommend various welfare schemes for the ex-servicemen and their families.

After removing the anomalies in the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, which was being implemented from next September one, about Rs 6000 crore more had been earmarked for the serving Defence personnel and ex-servicemen.

Stressing the need to channelise the energies of youth, the Defence Minister said ''Sainik schools were today one of the major vehicles to carry forward the movement of mass discipline in our society.'' He said the new school would commence its functioning from the next academic session with about 120 boys initially in class sixth and seventh. The number of students in the school would increase gradually.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Hooda said the state government was fully conscious of the welfare of the serving soldiers, ex-servicemen and their dependents and Rs 28 crore were being spent on implementation of various schemes for their welfare during the current financial year.

Though the population of the state was about two per cent of the country's total population, Haryana's contribution to the defence forces was upto 10 per cent. The selfless sacrifices of the soldiers of Haryana had been widely acknowledged by the people of the country, he added.

On this occasion, the Chief Minister announced development grant of Rs 50 lakh each for Gokhra and Pali villages. He also announced similar grant of Rs 10 lakh each for 10 villages of Bawal Assembly Constituency.

The Union Minister of State for Defence Production, Rao Inderjit Singh, Union Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju, Haryana Irrigation and Public Works (Building and Roads) Minister Ajay Singh Yadav also spoke on the occasion.

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