Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi takes charge of army's Eastern Command

KOLKATA: The army's Eastern Command here got a new chief today as Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi today took over from Lt Gen MMS Rai.

Rai has now been promoted as the Vice Chief of Army Staff in New Delhi.

Bakshi, who was Chief of Staff of Northern Command at Udhampur, is now the 25th General Officer Commanding-In-Chief of Eastern Command in Kolkata.

An alumnus of National Defence Academy (NDA), Bakshi was commissioned into Skinner's Horse regiment and has rich operational and command experience.

Several other important positions held by him include the command of an armoured brigade in the Western sector, a division in the deserts, and a corps in the plains sector of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Eastern Command has its territorial jurisdiction in West Bengal and over all the eight north-eastern states, including Sikkim.

It is responsible for military operations along the international borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Nepal.