The Hindu : Rs. 387 crores for ex-servicemen medical facilities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Rs. 387 crores for ex-servicemen medical facilities

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, FEB.21. The Centre has earmarked Rs. 387 crores to improve medical facilities for ex-servicemen, said Lieutenant-General Gurbaksh Singh Sihota, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, the Southern Command, today.

Inaugurating a 100-acre sports complex, an ecological park and a Sainik institute here, Mr. Sihota said it was proposed to open 225 polyclinics in two phases throughout the country. The Southern Command alone would account for 33 clinics, including 22 in non-military stations, by the year-end.

In this regard, he commended the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, for being responsive to the needs of service personnel and also for having allotted land for a polyclinic at Vellore.

Answering a question on the former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Padmanabhan's views in his recently published book that India would checkmate the United States by 2017, the Lieutenant-General said that at the present rate of scientific and economic development, India would be a force to reckon within over a decade. "If our scientists continue to produce what they are producing now and if the same rate of economic growth continues, there is no reason why India cannot be a force to reckon with."

On the ongoing peace process between India and Pakistan, Lt. General Sihota, who was earlier Director-General of Military Operations and entrusted by the Centre with de-escalating tensions in the Siachin glacier in 1999, said, "as the talks progress we will see a change along the line of control, Siachin and other areas. However, troops in all border areas should continue to be vigilant. We cannot afford to lower our guard."

Asked whether there was need to deploy the army in the Southern Command area to maintain law and order, he said, "nothing is lacking in the area, which comprises peaceful States."

Shivjot Sihota, president of the Army Wives Welfare Association, Southern Command, inaugurated an area nursery school and a health club.

The sports complex is being developed into an ecological park and a multiutility area for training, sports activities, a golf course and recreational amenities for all ranks.

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