By IANS
New Delhi : Maj. Gen. P. Mohapatra is to be the next colonel commandant of the Corps of Signals. He takes over the appointment on Saturday from Lt. Gen. A.K. Saini, who is retiring from service.
As colonel commandant, Mohapatra will oversee various ceremonial and human resource aspects of the Corps of Signals.
Born in Orissa’s Mayurbhanj district, Mohapatra had his early education at Sainik School, Bhubaneswar. He then joined the National Defence Academy (NDA). He was commissioned in 1971 and immediately thereafter, participated in the India-Pakistan war in the northern sector.
An alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College, Mohapatra has attended the Higher Command Course at Army War College, as also the prestigious National Defence College. During the Higher Command Course, he was awarded the Commandants’ Medal for the best research paper.
Mohapatra has held a number of important appointments, including command of an armoured division’s signal regiment and as chief signal officer of a strike corps during Operation Parakram.
He has operated in counter terrorism environment in Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland. He has also served on the staff of the military operations directorate at army headquarters.
He is presently additional director general and assistant chief of integrated defence staff (Signal Intelligence).