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Quota for ex-servicemen in group B posts under TN study

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI March 13. A proposal to reserve for ex-servicemen 10 per cent of group B posts in universities and panchayats is under ``active consideration'' of the Government, the Chief Secretary, Lakshmi Pranesh, said today.

Another, to increase from six to eight the number of MBBS seats reserved for wards of ex-servicemen/serving personnel, was also under consideration, she told a civil-military liaison conference here.

Mrs. Pranesh, who, along with A.S. Jamwal, General Officer Commanding, ATNKK & G Area, inaugurated the conference noted that the armed forces stationed in the State and the agencies of the Government were working in close cooperation to prevent the movement of cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from Sri Lanka to the Tamil Nadu coastline.

Maj. Gen. Jamwal said there were about 1.5 lakh ex-servicemen in the State and the Army had drawn up many schemes for them. Three more clinics for former soldiers would be opened by April. Also, ``based on a request from the civil administration, I have given directions to open an ex-servicemen canteen at Theni in the next 15 days, provided we get accommodation.''

The conference, which is scheduled to be held every year to sort out issues between the civil administration and the military personnel stationed in a State, was organised here after a gap of two years.

But some of the issues which featured in the 1998 and 2000 conferences are yet to be solved, despite the favourable government disposition to speed up issues concerning the military, after the Kargil conflict.

For the ATNKK & G Area headquarters, encroachments along the margins of the Area Command are a big security hazard. Though the Army took up the issue with successive Governments, no concrete action has been taken. The Army even suggested an alternative and requested the State Government for provision of land elsewhere, but this plea is yet to materialise.

Similarly, the Tambaram Indian Air Force Station complained of encroachments in its landing approach zone and of a bird menace caused by butcher shops dotting the periphery. Coast Guard said the security force also had its share of problems, in the form of a club next to its eastern region headquarters.

It said security buffer zones had to be created along sensitive installations and establishments, and this should be decided in coordination with local authorities.

But many military establishments have one problem in common — their being treated as industrial establishments for provision of services, especially water supply.

The Tambaram IAF station, which had written time and again to the authorities, finally paid up arrears at industrial rates, after it was threatened with disconnection. The station reportedly paid up, under protest.

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