NEW DELHI: Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti will be the new Deputy Chief of Naval Staff following the superannuation of Vice Admiral Sanjay Mahindru on Saturday. Sobti, the current Director General of Naval Operations, will assume charge from Sunday.
Also, Lieutenant General Rajeev Puri has been assigned to take charge of the Panagarh-based 17 Strike (Brahmastra) Corps as Lieutenant General VMB Krishnan has completed his tenure.
The Corps is the largest formation of the Indian Army that wages war independently. Of the total of 14 Corps in the Army, four are strike Corps, mandated to penetrate the enemy’s territory as the war begins. The four strike corps are: the Mathura-based I Corps, the Ambala-based II Corps, the Bhopal-based 21 Corps, and the 17 Corps.
The Cabinet Committee on Security had cleared the raising of the Mountain Strike Corps, christened as the 17th MSC or the Brahmastra Corps, with China in mind in 2013. It was to have about 90,000 troops.
In another change of guard, Lieutenant General Raghu Srinivasan took over as the 28th Director General of Border Roads (DGBR) on Saturday. He assumed the charge following the superannuation of Lieutenant General Rajeev Chaudhry. Prior to his appointment as the DGBR, was commandant at the College of Military Engineering, Pune.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), raised in 1960, is mandated to secure India’s borders by developing infrastructure in remote areas of the north and northeastern states.
Since its inception, the BRO has constructed over 63,000 km of roads, 976 bridges, six tunnels, and 21 airfields. In the last year, it has completed a record 193 projects, at a cost of `5,400 crore, across eight border states and three Union Territories.
Also, Vice Admiral RB Pandit, the Commander in Chief of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC), superannuated on Saturday. The incumbent is yet to be announced.
The Strategic Forces Command is a tri-service command set up in 2003 to manage and administer all strategic forces (land, air, and sea) of India.