Chandigarh: Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) at the Army Headquarters, has been appointed as the General Officer Commanding of 1 Corps, the strike formation based at Mathura.

He will take over from Lt Gen Shoukin Chauhan, who moves as the Director General, Assam Rifles, a Central Armed Police Force under the administrative control of the home ministry that has officers deputed to it from the Army. As DGMO, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh had come into public limelight when he, along with a representative from the MEA, had announced the Army’s surgical strikes in PoK. The new DGMO, Lt Gen AK Bhat, is a recently promoted Gorkha officer. Lt Gen Ranbir and Chauhan are also from the Infantry. TNS

Lt General AK Bhatt appointed as new DGMO

NEW DELHI: The government has cleared the appointment of Lt-General A K Bhatt as the next director-general of military operations (DGMO), even though it is yet to announce the names of the next Army and IAF chiefs despite both General Dalbir Singh Suhag and Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha slated to retire on December 31.

Lt-Gen Bhatt, who was commissioned into the Gorkha Rifles, will take over the crucial DGMO appointment from Lt-General Ranbir Singh, who captured the popular imagination after he declared at a hurriedly-called press briefing by the external affairs ministry that Army Special Forces had conducted “surgical strikes” against terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir on September 29.

Lt-Gen Bhatt, who has earlier served in the military operations directorate as a brigadier, is currently posted as the additional director general of the complaints and advisory board at the Army HQ here after he commanded the 21 Division in Assam.Lt-Gen Singh, in turn, will now head the 1 Corps (headquarters at Mathura), which is one of four “strike corps” among the 14 corps of
the 1.3 million strong Army. He will replace Lt-Gen Shokin Chauhan, who in turn has been appointed as the director-general of Assam
Rifles.

The Army and IAF are eagerly awaiting the announcements of their new chiefs, which as per tradition should have been declared two months in advance. Eastern Army Command chief Lt-Gen Praveen Bakshi and IAF vice-chief Air Marshal B S Dhanoa are tipped to be the new chiefs.
While the DGMO post is crucial, the command of a corps (each roughly has over 60,000 troops) is critical for a Lt-General to be considered for the next rank of an Army commander. Three of the strike corps, 1 Corps (Mathura), 2 Corps (Ambala) and 21 Corps (Bhopal) are geared
towards Pakistan, the fourth is the new 17 Mountain Corps being raised as a deterrent against China. In all, the Army has 14 Corps under six operational or regional commands.

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