November 22, 2001

ARMY TEAM TO TAKE PART IN 21^ST ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION

        Lt Gen N C Vij, Vice Chief of the Army Staff, met the members of the 21^st Indian Antarctic Expedition comprising two officers, two Junior Commissioned Officers and eleven Other Ranks at a function held at South Block here today.

        The team with Major Ravindra Kumar Sharma as its leader is scheduled to leave from Mumbai to Cape Town (South Africa) on 07 January 2002. The expedition is planned to sail out from Cape Town, South Africa on 08 January 2002. Out of the fifteen members, eight belong to the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers and seven are from the Corps of Engineers. The leader of expedition, Major R K Sharma is also from EME.

        The Army has been providing the vital logistic support for the conduct of Antarctic Expeditions. Its involvement commenced with the second expedition in 1982-83, when a small contingent of three officers, including a medical officer, formed part of the expedition. Ever since then, the Army has been intimately involved in the conduct of these expeditions in terms of overland transportation of men and material in Antarctic. In addition to the assigned tasks, the Army teams in the best traditions of the Indian Army, have also been involved in other humanitarian assistance to other contingents on the continent.

        Members of this expedition are Major Ravinder Kumar Sharma, EME, Captain Amit Atri, Engineers, Nb Sub Ratan Singh, EME, Nb Sub Gurbachan Singh, EME, HMT Navin Kumar, EME, Hav Sita Ram, EME, Hav Prem Kumar Awasthi, EME, Hav Jai Kaumar Verma, Engineers, Hav Log Raj Joshi, Engineers, Nk Dalbir Singh, EME, Nk M Narute, EME, L/Nk Chander Shekhar, Engineers, Spr Surinder Singh, Engineers, Spr/Elect Sanaji Singh, Engineers and L/Nk/OEM M Ramesh, Engineers