Lt Gen Bhatt to take over as Chinar Corps GOC

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 20

Amid the escalating tension along the border, Lt Gen Anil Kumar Bhatt is likely to take charge of Army’s Srinagar-based sensitive and strategic 15 Corps in the last week of January, defence sources said.

Lt General Bhatt was appointed as Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) in 2016 and was in charge of all Army operations, including along the Line of Control (LoC). He will take over as GoC 15 Corps on January 28 or 29.

He will be replacing Lt Gen JS Sandhu, who had taken over as General Officer Commanding (GOC) of 15 Corps also called the Chinar Corps, on November 1, 2016.

Lt General Bhatt, a Gorkha officer and an alumnus of prestigious St George’s College, will assume the office at a time when there has been a spike in tension along the LoC, though the nearly 350-km LoC portion in Kashmir under the control of 15 Corps is relatively calm, unlike the Jammu region.

“Lt General Sandhu will move to Delhi and take over as new Military Secretary,” the defence sources said.

Lt General Sandhu had taken over as GOC 15 Corps almost four months after the unrest broke out in Kashmir over the killing Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani.

While the new Corps commander is likely to take over in the last week of this month, the GOC of the Baramulla-based 19 Infantry Division, responsible for guarding the LoC from Gulmarg to Uri to Nowgam, was also replaced last month. Maj Gen GS Rawat took over from Maj Gen RP Kalita as the GOC 19 Infantry Division.

The LoC in Kashmir is manned by troops of two divisions of the Army — one based in Baramulla and another in Kupwara.