By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Thursday upgraded the senior-most staff appointment in the Visakhapatnam-based Eastern Naval Command to the rank of a vice admiral. Sunil Lanba will be the first officer to occupy the upgraded position.
Rear Admiral Lanba, who is at present the Maharashtra naval area’s flag officer commanding, will occupy that position on his promotion May 1.
“The post of chief of staff in the Eastern Naval Command has been upgraded to vice admiral rank,” a navy officer said here.
This upgrading of chief of staff post at the Eastern Naval Command comes a year after the government first upgraded it in the Mumbai-based Western Naval Command, considered the sword arm of the Indian Navy.
Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan is currently the chief of staff at the Western Naval Command.
The upgrading of the post is a direct fallout of the defence ministry’s promotion policy unveiled two years ago under the recommendations of the A.V. Singh committee that went into the restructuring of the officer cadre in the armed forces.
The recent stepping up of the Eastern Naval Command’s resources too had a bearing on the government decision on upgrading the post, the officer said.
Under the increase in resources of the Eastern Naval Command, the navy had deployed its spanking new INS Shivalik stealth frigate, INS Jalashwa landing pontoon dock and new fleet tanker, apart from opening of new operational bases there.