PUNE (PTI): Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh took over as General Office Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Command of the Indian Army on Tuesday, a defence release said.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Pune and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Singh was commissioned into 7/11 Gorkha Rifles in December 1984. He has vast operational experience in all types of terrain be it counter-insurgency areas, high altitudes & icy glaciated regions of Siachen or the desert sector, the release said.

He commanded 1/11 Gorkha Rifles on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, an elite brigade in the Western Theatre, a frontline Counter Insurgency Force in the Kashmir Valley and Trishakti Corps in North East. Singh has also held key instructional and staff appointments including Instructor at Commando Wing, Belgaum, Additional Director General of Military Operations and Director General (Operational Logistic & Strategic Movement) at the Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Army), New Delhi.

He has also been a diplomat soldier, having done a stint as Officer-in-Charge, PPO Dharan at the Embassy of India in Nepal.

After assuming command, he paid homage to the fallen soldiers by laying a wreath at Southern Command War Memorial, Pune.

Outgoing Army Commander Lieutenant General J S Nain relinquished the command on Monday.