Woman officer to lead all-men Bombay Sappers contingent at Republic Day parade

Mumbai: For the first time in the three-centuries-old history of Bombay Sappers, a woman officer will be leading the regiment’s all-men contingent at the Republic Day parade in Delhi.

For 31-year-old Major Divya Tyagi, who was commissioned into 115 Engineer Regiment of the Corps of Engineers eight years ago, this is a singular achievement.

She will lead the contingent, comprising an officer, two junior commissioned officer and 144 Other Ranks, who have been relentlessly practicing hard for the parade for the last six months, an officer told PTI.

Major Tyagi will be the first woman officer to lead the all-men contingent of the Bombay Sappers at the Republic Day parade as the Contingent Commander.

Major Tyagi, who is a B Tech in Civil Engineering and married to an army officer, is presently posted at Bombay Engineering Group and Centre, Khadki in the Pune district. She passed out of the Officers Training Academy, Chennai as Academy Cadet Adjutant and become a Bombay Sapper in September 2016.

The Bombay Engineer Group, or the Bombay Sappers as they are informally known, is a regiment of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army.

The Bombay Sappers draw their origin from the erstwhile Bombay Presidency army of the British Raj. The group has its centre in Khadki.

Though the Sappers trace their ancestry back to 1777, when the Pioneer Lascars were raised under the Bombay Presidency, the date of raising of the Group is taken as 1820, when Engineer Lascars were raised and formed into a company designated as ‘Sappers and Miners’ under the Bombay Army.

The Bombay Engineering Group is the proud recipient of the highest gallantry awards, both before and after the Independence. These include the Victoria Cross, the Medaille Militaire, the Param Vir Chakra and the Ashok Chakra.