Colonel Ponung Doming has become the first female officer from Arunachal Pradesh promoted to the rank of Colonel in the Indian army and is deployed at a important strategic border post.
In a earlier tweet , Border Road Organisation (BRO) informed that Col. Doming who is with Corps of Engineers post her promotion will be taking over the command of a border road task force (BRTF) in the strategically important Leh sector under union territory of Ladakh. She is a native of Pasighat in East Siang district.
Colonel Doming was commissioned into the Indian Army as a lieutenant in 2008. She rose to the rank of major in four-and-a-half years, and in 2014 served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 2019. Colonel Doming has done her civil engineering from the Walchand College of Engineering in Maharashtra. Before joining the army she was working for some time in the private sector.
In Jun 2O23, Col Ponung Doming was selected to head a Task Force at Hanle, Ladakh, which was shifted specially to handle some strategically very important BRO projects. She was given two more women officers in staff to assist her in undertaking construction of world’s highest road at 19400 feet in Chumar sector connecting Likaru – Migla – Fukche, world’s one of the highest fighter air base at Nyoma and Chushul – Dungti – Fukche – Demchok road along LAC under most trying conditions. Hanle Task Force is world’s highest construction agency located at 15000 feet. She is also responsible to maintain world’s highest road at Umlingla connecting Demchok to Chisumle.
Col Ponung is not only an inspiration to the girls of Arunachal Pradesh but a source of motivation and encouragement for the women of the Nation. She is a role model to people who dream big and have the courage to follow and achieve their dreams in unchartered territory.
(With inputs from Pratyusha Mukherjee)
Picture: Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India
