Lieutenant General RP Kalita has been appointed as the new Eastern Army Command chief in Kolkata.
He would be succeeding Lt Gen Manoj Pande who is moving to the Army Headquarters as the new Vice Chief of the Army.
He is the first Assamese Army officer to be appointed as an Army commander and the second one from the Northeast.
Lt Gen KH Singh (retd) of Manipur was the first corps commander from the region.
Lieutenant General Kalita – an alumnus of Sainik School, Goalpara (SSG) in Assam and of National Defence Academy (NDA) was earlier awarded ‘Sena Medal’ and ‘Vishisht Seva Medal’ (twice) for his outstanding service.