ALD Ganpat Ram Puniya

Acting Lance Dafadar Ganpat Ram Puniya hailed from Bhinyasar village in Phalodi tehsil of Jodhpur district in Rajasthan and was born on 02nd Aug 1982. Son of Shri Dhana Ram and Smt Rangu Devi, he had a brother Sahiram and a sister Santi Devi as his siblings. After completing his Class XII from Government Senior Secondary School at Phalodi in Jodhpur district, he joined the Army on 09 Jan 2001 at the age of 18 years. He was recruited into the 88th Armd Regt of the Armoured Corps, one of the crucial combat arms of the Indian Army, known for its formidable tanks and other heavy weaponry.

After serving for few years, he got married to Ms Manohari Devi and the couple had a daughter Pooja (born on 11 Nov 1999) and two sons Prem Kumar (born on 10 May 2002) and Mukesh Kumar (born on 05 Nov 2006). In his career spanning over nine years, he served in various operational areas and developed into a professionally competent and dedicated soldier. After serving with his parent regiment for quite some time, he was deputed to serve with the 48 RR battalion deployed in J&K for counter-insurgency operations.  By the year 2010, he had put in around 09 years of service and had been promoted to the rank of Acting Lance Dafadar (Equivalent to Havildar). 

Rajouri Sector Operation (J&K) : 17 July 2010

During 2010,  ALD Ganpat Ram Puniya’s unit  48 RR battalion was deployed in the Rajouri district of J&K. The unit troops were deployed in the Rajouri sector along the LOC. The LOC was highly active and volatile where cease-fire violations occurred very often and without any warning. It was also used by the terrorists for infiltration with the connivance of Pakistani security forces. The infiltration by the terrorists was invariably attempted under the cover of artillery fire or with the help of the Border Action Team(BAT). Based on the information from the intelligence sources, about the presence of some hardcore terrorists in the Sokkas Nakka area of the Rajouri district, the security forces launched a search and cordon operation on 17 Jul 2010. ALD Ganpat Ram Puniya was part of the team that was assigned the task of conducting this operation.