‘Army facing shortage of officers’

Admitting that the army is facing a shortage of officers, a top army official said various measures are being taken to fill up vacancies.

Admitting that the army is facing a shortage of officers, a top army official on Saturday said various measures are being taken to fill up 24,000 vacancies in the armed forces.

A number of awareness programmes to attract more youth into the force are being organised, Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Susheel Gupta, told reporters after reviewing a Passing Out Parade at the Officers Training Academy here.

“Pay packets in the corporate sector are indeed lucrative but steps are being taken to address such issues, which will be discussed in the Sixth Pay Commission,” he said, adding other measures like providing extended accommodation to the families of the personnel, faster and assured promotions upto the rank of Colonel were also in the offing.

Replying to a query on stress-related incidents in the army, he said steps were being taken to solve the issue too.

Increased duration of leave for troops working in “difficult areas” was one of the measures, he said.

Further, the army was taking steps to upgrade its Information and Technology wing to facilitate speedy decision-making.

A total of 193 men and 80 women cadets were commissioned into the army as officers in today’s parade ceremony.