Pune: Lt Gen Chandi Prasad Mohanty assumed command of Southern Army by laying wreath at the National War Memorial, Pune, on Thursday. It was followed by traditional guard of honour at Headquarters, Southern Command.
Prior to his appointment as General Officer Commanding in-chief of Southern Command, he was posted as the General Officer Commanding of Uttar Bharat area.
A native of Jayabada village in Jagatsinghpur, he is the first Odia to take admission in Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehradun.
Lt Gen Mohanty’s father, Jitendra K Mohanty, was a government employee and mother, Dr Sarada Mohanty, a professor in Odia at SVM College.
He studied up to to Class VI at Bagashai UP Schoo. After RIMC, he joined the National Defence Academy (NDA) and was commissioned in the Rajput Regiment as a second lieutenant. He has operational experience along the borders with Pakistan and China and counter-insurgency operations in Assam. He had led a multinational UN brigade in Congo.
Lt Gen Mohanty visits his village in December every year.
