Major Gen Abhijit S Pendharkar takes charge as GOC of Army's Vajr Division

Major General Abhijit S Pendharkar on Sunday took over as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the elite Vajr Division of the Army, a defence spokesperson said here.

He succeeds Major General VMB Krishnan, who was appointed as Commandant of the Counter-Insurgency Jungle Warfare School, Vairengte, according to the spokesperson.

Maj Gen Pendharkar was commissioned on June 9, 1990, from IMA, Dehradun into the 6th Battalion of the Assam Regiment, the spokesperson said.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, the GOC has attended all important career courses including Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Higher Command Course and National Defence College. He has an MSc in Strategic Studies and Master of Philosophy to his credit, he said.

He also has vast operational experience having served in intense counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations in the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir.

For his distinguished service, Maj Gen Pendharkar was awarded GOC-in-C Central Command Commendation Card in 2002, COAS Commendation Card in 2007 and Yudh Seva Medal in 2018 while commanding a challenging brigade on the Line of Control (LoC), the spokesperson said.

He brings with him a rich experience of various command, staff and instructional appointments including the prestigious command of an Infantry Brigade on the LoC, Chief of Staff of an Infantry Brigade Group in MONUSCO, Congo and an extremely important appointment in Directorate of Military Operations at IHQ of MoD (Army), he said.