More than 41,000 students enrolled as National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets in Bengal are likely to be ineligible to appear in the next levels of certification examinations, which would have made their entry into defence and paramilitary forces easier, as the state government hasn’t allegedly released the required funds.

A senior Nabanna official, however, rejected the charge.

A source aware of developments said 41,068 eligible candidates were likely to miss the opportunity to hone their skills and appear for the B and C certifications tests as enough Combined Annual Training Camps (CATCs) are not being held in Bengal this time.

“The Bengal government has stopped paying its contribution for organising such camps. Hence, these youths might suffer in case they have plans to join the defence or paramilitary forces,” said the source.

NCC is the youth wing of the Indian armed forces under the ministry of defence. School and college students are trained for three years to become cadets for tri-services on a voluntary basis. If NCC cadets clear the CATC’s B and C certifications with high grades and secure a bachelor’s degree with 55 per cent marks, they are exempted from the written test of the Combined Defence Service (CDS) Examination.

The test throws open the doors to the armed forces at the officer level and also helps them get a direct interview call from the Services Selection Board (SSB) to join the military services.

“Despite repeated liaison and communication with the state finance department, the NCC’s West Bengal and Sikkim directorate failed to get any response to ensure the Bengal government’s mandatory contribution of 25 per cent of the total expenses involved in organising CAT camps. The Centre spends the remaining 75 per cent of the funds,” said a source.

Maj. Gen. Uday Sankar Sengupta, the ADG in the NCC’s West Bengal and Sikkim directorate, said: “The issue has become a matter of concern for us since the future of several thousand students, who aspire to appear in the NCC B and C certificate examinations, is involved. A good score in these examinations would help them join the Indian armed forces as officers.”

According to a source, the NCC directorate communicated with the Bengal government but has received no response so far. A senior state finance department official told The Telegraph that the government had started releasing funds for the NCC.

“On October 21, Rs 20 lakh was released. As there have been holidays since then, the funds may not have been credited as yet. But there is no reason to stop the release of funds for the NCC,” the official said.

The issue of the non-release of the funds has come up during a meeting convened by chief secretary H. K. Dwivedi with officers of the army and central armed forces at Nabanna a couple of months ago.

“At that time, the state could not make it clear when the funds would be released as its coffers were stressed. Although the situation did not improve, the state was forced to release some funds under pressure,” said a source.

At least 103 camps — held in phases at different places — were required for the 41,068 cadets in Bengal. They added that the plan to hold most of the camps had already been cancelled because of the funds crunch.

The NCC directorate has appraised the ministry of defence that Bengal has at present 95,120 enrolled cadets. Of them, 5,4324 cadets are required to attend the CATC in the current year. Till September, only 6,586 cadets have attended CAT camps, whereas 6,400 cadets would be able to attend the same camps with the available funds.

The remaining 41,068 cadets cannot attend any camp because of the absence of the funds, the communication has stated. An NCC cadet has to attend at least one camp to appear in the B certificate examination and two camps for the C certificate test. The state’s apparent failure to release the funds ontime has triggered criticism from the BJP and the CPM.

“CM @MamataOfficial is playing with the future of youths in WB. Her Govt refused to release funds for the NCC cadets aspiring for their B & C certificate examination. While she has no fund shortage for appeasement, she shows no concerns for youths,” state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar tweeted.

CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty has said it is“unfortunate” that the state has not released its share of funds.

“It is quite baffling that a government that can pay crores of rupees to organise Durga Puja can’t pay to help our children”.