Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI, 27 Jan: Colonel Ponung Doming, an army officer from Pasighat, has been awarded the prestigious Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty) for her exemplary service in the Indian Army.
Colonel Ponung was among 43 armed forces personnel who were awarded the Sena Medal by President Droupadi Murmu.
Born in Pasighat to Olom Doming and Jimmi Dai Doming, Ponung pursued her early education at Government Daying Ering Higher Secondary School and IGJ Government Higher Secondary School in Pasighat.
Before joining the army, she worked for two years with L&T in Kolkata. Her journey into the armed forces began in 2008 when she cleared the Service Selection Board and was commissioned from the Officers Training Academy, Chennai.
She leads a unit constructing a high-altitude road in Ladakh’s Demchok sector, ensuring critical connectivity to the military’s farthest outpost, Fukche, situated just 3 kmsfrom the line of actual control (LAC) with China.
Her unit is also spearheading the upgrading of the Nyoma advanced landing ground near the LAC into a fully operational base for fighter jets.
Ponung is the first woman from Arunachal Pradesh to reach a colonel’s rank in the Indian Army. She also served with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2014. (With inputs from Arunachal Today)
