By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will Thursday inaugurate the Ezhimala Naval Academy in Kerala, and from June onwards all officers inducted into the Indian Navy will undergo basic training at the academy.
“The prime minister will inaugurate the academy at a function tomorrow (Thursday) to be attended by Defence Minister A.K. Antony,” an official said.
When the academy, spread over 2,452 acres along the north Malabar coastline, becomes operational in June this year, the third-year naval cadets from the National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune, will be trained there.
“After two years of joint training with the army and air force cadets at the NDA, the naval cadets will shift to Ezhimala for further training. After spending two years at the academy, all the cadets will be awarded a B.Tech degree,” the official said.
Earlier, the naval cadets had to undergo three-year training at NDA before moving to naval academies depending on their area of specialisation.
The academy includes part of the Kavvayi backwaters, where watermanship training would be conducted. The academy would have state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories and workshops, a well-stocked library and modern auditorium.
A comprehensive IT network, interconnecting various facilities is also being set-up.
Naval Orientation Courses of 20 weeks’ duration for other direct entry schemes (after graduation) in various branches of the navy, will also be conducted here.
The total envisaged strength of the academy in June 2009 would be approximately 450 trainees. This would progressively increase to about 1,100 trainees by 2013. These would include officer-trainees from the Indian Coast Guard and friendly foreign countries too.