Lt. Colonel Puttichanda Ganapathi

Lt. Colonel Puttichanda Ganapathi was a  brave officer who was born on 7th November 1944 in Napoklu. Shy of any kind of publicity and one who lives by the dictum ‘Safeguarding the nation is my duty alone’ is how Lt. Col. Puttichanda Somaiah Ganapathi has led his life throughout.

Family

Father

Puttichanda Somaiah

Mother

Puttichanda ( Thathanda )Pali 

Wife

Konganda Vani Mandanna

Children

Puttichanda Gautham

Puttichanda Aditya

Chekkara Ganga Ganapathi Poovaiah

Education

He completed his primary education from Napoklu and joined Central school at Madikeri for his high school studies. He completed his college education and joined service.

Career

Ganapathi joined as a Forester and he was posted at Kolhapur in Maharashtra, he attempted to join the military twice and failed. His third attempt to join military succeeded in Bengaluru. He was deputed to the Officers Training Academy (OTA) at Chennai. After the successful training in Chennai, Ganapathi became an officer of the 14^th Mahar Regiment.

Achievements

• Few days of joining the military, he ingrained the military traits of discipline and diligence. He was selected for the Anti-Insurgency battalion formed to tackle the militancy spread in Nagaland and Mizoram.
• He worked in various areas in the North-East like Palampur, Gangtok, Nathu La, etc.
• He received further training for a few years in Belgaumand then was deputed to Assam Rifles. During this period, Ganapathi has served in various regions, under different environments and had experienced adverse conditions from close quarters.
• On 16 October 1987 as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka, Major Ganapathy‘s unit, was surrounded and repeatedly attacked by enemy with very heavy fire, resulting in heavy casualties.
• He served in Colombo in 1987. He also served in Tamilnadu in 1987 during which Indian troops were sent to Sri Lanka with much zeal to fulfil the obligations of the peace accord, the Indian Navy, landed at several places in Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, and Urumpirai.
• In Trincomalee in 1987 he was deputed from the Assam Rifles to the 8^th Mahar Regiment. The first batch of the peace-keeping force was airlifted from Tiruchirapalli to Jaffna on 30^th July, 1987. He was in this batch. The dense jungles around Jaffna made him anticipate the struggles they would face in event of a military operation. He had a premonition of the same at the first glance of Jaffna. It did not take many days for his apprehensions to become true. That was because the LTTE waged a direct war against them and they fought the LTTE during this period.
• On 16 October 1987 as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka, Major Ganapathy‘s unit, was surrounded and repeatedly attacked by enemy with very heavy fire, resulting in heavy casualties
• He was a part of the operation in Anaicottai in1987 and he was deputed to serve at the Army Headquarters at Uduvil in 1988
• His exemplary courage demonstrated during the operations to clear Jaffna of LTTE militants and for the gallantry displayed during the operations to capture Maruthanamadam and Anaicottai’ fetched him an award from the Indian Government.

Awards

• He was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra

 

Lt. Col.PS Ganapathi believed that safeguarding the honor of the esteemed medal was his paramount duty and was more valuable than any kind of publicity.