Brig Madan Gopal, Brig Suman to move

PUNE, Sept 10: The Pune and the Khadki cantonment boards will soon see a change of guard at their helm of affairs. Brig Madan Gopal, Comm...

PUNE, Sept 10: The Pune and the Khadki cantonment boards will soon see a change of guard at their helm of affairs. Brig Madan Gopal, Commander, Pune Sub Area Headquarters and president, Pune Cantonment Board PCB has been transferred to the Army Headquarters, New Delhi as the Deputy Director General, Military Operations. Brig A K Anand, Commandant, Assam Rifles Training Centre will replace him on October 7.

Brig Dr Mrinal Suman, Commandant, Bombay Engineer Group and president of the Khadki Cantonment Board KCB has been transferred as the Chief Engineer in the Eastern Command. He will be handing over charge to Brig Vijay Aga who is presently, Faculty Commander, College of Military Engineering CME, Pune.

An alumni of the National Defence Academy NDA, Pune, Brig Madan Gopal was commissioned into the 9, Gorkha Rifles. He held several key positions and had operational experience in the 1971 Bangladesh war and was mentioned in the despatches of gallantry. He also took active part in the anti-insurgency operations in the North East and Jammu and Kashmir.

He was awarded the Ati Vishishtha Seva Medal AVSM while commanding the Rashtriya Rifles sector in Kashmir. Brig Madan Gopal took over as PCB president in December 1997 when the hawkers of M G Road were shifted to Fashion Street, located off Gen Thimayya Road. He introduced the controversial pay and park scheme on M G Road despite stiff opposition from the Pune Camp Merchants Association PCMA.

Brig Gopal also set up the Tanaji Institute for Jawans, a first of its kind project for the families of jawans, worked on a number of projects related to environment and took active interest in the completion of the National War Memorial at Morwada Junction. Brig Suman who has completed around 34 years of active service in the army is an alumni of the NDA in the 27th course. He commanded a regiment in the Kargil Siachen sector in the 1988-90 and was awarded the Vishishth Seva Medal VSM for his exemplary service. He was also a recipient of the Chief of Army8217;s commendation in 1972.

He described his three-year tenure at Khadki as extremely interesting, challenging and satisfying. He was instrumental in saving the cantonment board lakhs of rupees and introduced the system of competitive tendering and the removal of the unauthorised stalls. He however, has a major grudge. He regrets his inability to handle the cleaning of the Mula river.