Lt Gen Gurmit Singh Sworn in as Governor of Uttarakhand

Dehradun: Lt Gen (retd) Gurmit Singh was on Wednesday sworn in as the new Governor of Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice R S Chauhan administered the oath of office to Singh at a simple function held at the Raj Bhawan here. The function was attended by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, his cabinet colleagues Satpal Maharaj and Dhan Singh Rawat, Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Premchand Aggarwal, Director General of Police Ashok Kumar and a number of senior government officials including Chief Secretary S S Sandhu.

Singh succeeds Baby Rani Maurya, who resigned two years before completing her tenure. Singh, who retired as the deputy chief of the Indian Army, is a highly decorated officer. He is considered an expert on India-China affairs. Talking to reporters soon after the swearing-in ceremony, Singh said, “After serving the country as a soldier, I feel proud to have got the opportunity to serve Uttarakhand, which is also called ‘Veerbhoomi’, where every family has someone in the armed forces.”

He said addressing issues related to ex-servicemen, soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty and their dependents will be among his priorities. “I will try to rise to the expectations (of people) from the Governor’s office,” he said.