Bengaluru: Karnataka will start 75 new Units of the National Cadets Corps (NCC) in Schools and Colleges and induct 7,500 more cadets into the force this year, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Sunday.

The CM was speaking at a function held to celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Bommai said the youths would have been more patriotic had the country identified leaders like Netaji, Chandrashekar Azad and Bhagat Singh as its “frontline freedom fighters.”

He said the State Government would bear Rs. 12,000 expenditure on each of the new 7,500 cadets. The Government would seek the Defence Ministry’s approval to bear the entire cost of augmenting the NCC. NCC Units in High Schools would be carried forward to Colleges with plans to raise the number of cadets to over 50,000 from the current 44,000 cadets next year. “We need the approval of the Defence Ministry for this and we are confident of obtaining it,” the CM said.

Relaunching the flying school after a gap of six years, Bommai said that it was important for the school to remain active to protect the aerodrome. “The Government has decided to train 100 young pilots and a new twin engine trainer aircraft has also been purchased. We will try to provide additional land to make the runway safe and full- fledged,” he said.

The work on restarting the flying school had been completed in just six months, and the Government intends to offer pilot training to 100 youths every year. Courses will commence next week. The 874 metre runway has been made functional while five single engine aircraft have been repaired besides purchase of a new Rs. 5 crore twin engine aircraft, the CM added.