To fulfill the shortage of over 12,000 officers, the Indian Army will start training its personnel at the second Officer’s Training Academy (OTA) at Gaya in Bihar on July 18.

The new OTA will be in addition to the existing academy at Chennai and will also help Army increase its officer cadre base, Army officials told reporters in New Delhi.

The new OTA will start with the training of 135 officers and in the next two years, begin training its full strength of over 700 Short Service Commission (SSC) officers in the next two years, they said.

The Army is facing a shortage of 12,349 officers against its sanctioned strength of around 46,500 officers and is also looking to increase the number of officers to meet the new security requirements on both fronts.