Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday approved a proposal to set up a second sainik school in the State in Chandrapur district on the lines of the Satara Sainik School and said an MoU would be signed with the State in 15 days.
In Mumbai to attend a national conclave on skill development, Mr Parrikar also held a meeting at Mantralaya to discuss proposals from the State government. Finance and Planning Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, Education Minister Vinod Tawade, BJP leader Mangal Prabha Lodha, Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, and senior officials were present at the meeting.
The plan for a sainik school at Chandrapur was presented before Mr Parrikar. Mr Mungantiwar said the State would allocate 123 acres near the Chandrapur-Ballapur highway and provide the required funds to construct the school. The school would accommodate 600 students.
The Satara Sainik School is situated on the Pune-Bengaluru highway. Set up in 1961, it was the first sainik school amongst a chain of 24 such schools established in the country through the efforts of the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Yashwantrao Chavan. The school was set up with the aim of preparing youths from the financially weaker sections for entry into the National Defence Academy and other defence academies.
Eco- Battalion
Mr Parrikar also discussed the idea of raising an eco-battalion from the armed forces to carry out afforestation drives in all districts of scarcely forested and drought-prone Marathawada region and counter drought-like situations.
