77th Army Day Parade on Jan 15 in historic city of Pune

Nepal Army band, an all-girl marching team from the NCC, an all-women Agniveer contingent, and a set of 'robotic mules' among the key attractions lined up for the prestigious parade

Pune: The historic city of Pune — home to the Southern Command — is all set to celebrate Army Day on Wednesday with a Nepal Army band, an all-girl marching team from the NCC, an all-women Agniveer contingent, and a set of ‘robotic mules’ among the key attractions lined up for the prestigious parade.

Besides, the Indian Army will also showcase many of its potent weapons and cutting-edge platforms in a display of the country’s military might.

Some of the platforms to be showcased at the parade include K9 Vajra self-propelled howitzer, BMP-2 Sarath infantry combat vehicle, T-90 tanks, Swathi weapon locating radar, Sarvatra bridging system, multi-barrel rocket system, ATOR N1200 all-terrain vehicle, drone jammer systems and mobile communication nodes, sources in the defence establishment.

The 77th Army Day Parade will take place at Bombay Engineers Group (BEG) and Centre in Pune, which comes under the army’s Southern Command.

Marching contingents from Madras Regiment, Maratha Light Infantry Regiment, Regiment of Artillery, Mechanised Infantry, Bombay Engineer Group, Army Ordnance Corps, Army Service Corps, among others, will take part in the parade, according to a pamphlet shared by army officials here.

A “combined band” of Indian Army and Nepal Army will take part in the parade, symbolising the “synergy between the two nations”, it said.

The parade venue is a poignant location as it faces a war memorial raised hundred years ago in 1924 in honour of the fallen heroes of the Bombay Sappers and Miners.

Streets leading to the BEG and Centre, home to the over 200-year-old Bombay Sappers, have been decorated with army insignia and colours, while huge Army Day Parade posters have been put up across the city — in English, Hindi and Marathi.

While some of them carry the tagline ‘first time in Pune’, others proclaim the participation of a Nepal Army band contingent. The 33-member contingent, which includes three woman musicians, arrived in Pune on January 10.

The theme for the 77th Army Day celebrations is ‘Samarth Bharat, Saksham Sena’, and the focus this time is on demonstrating the capabilities of the army contributing to a stronger nation.