Lt General (Retd) Bhopinder Singh assumes Governor's office in UT

Puducherry, Mar 15 (UNI) Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Lt General (Retd) Bhopinder Singh assumed office of the Lt Governor of the Union Territory of Puducherry as additional charge at a simple function held at the Rajnivas here today.

Puducherry Chief Judge D Krishna Raja administered the oath of office to Mr Singh at 1215 hrs.

Chief Minister N Rangasamy, his Cabinet colleagues, Speaker R Radhakrishnan, former speaker M D R Ramachandran, leaders of different political parties, Legislators and senior officials of the territorial administration participated in the function.

Earlier Chief Secretary Ragesh Bihari read out the warrant of appointment from the President.

The post of the Puducherry Lt Governor fell vaccant following the resignation of Mukut Mithi, who was fielded as the Congress Rajya Sabha candidate from his home state Arunachal Pradesh.

Mr Singh with 41 years of service in the army was the Military Secretary to former Presidents late K R Narayanan and A P J Abdul Kalam. He was the Director General of Military Training, Provost Marshal and Assistant Director General (organisation and man power planning) of the Army.

Mr Singh was also posted as the Military, Naval and Air attache for East and Southern Africa based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He had commanded the troops in India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971 and led counter insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram and Assam. He was conferred with the Vishist Seva Medal, the highest Military Award for his distinguished services in 2006.

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