The Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army marked its 229th anniversary on Wednesday at the College of Military Engineering (CME) at Dapodi. Several serving and retired officers laid wreaths at the Southern Command War Memorial on the occasion.

Addressing all ranks of the Corps of Engineers at a special Sainik Sammelan at CME, Lt Gen USP Sinha, commandant, CME, appealed to all ranks to take a pledge to rededicate themselves to further improve the quality of technical and combat engineering tasks of the Corps, the Armed Forces and the Paramilitary Services, said a press release from the CME.

“We have revamped, refined and improved the training and administrative infrastructure of the college to create an environment to provide quality education and instruction to prepare our Sappers for the challenges being faced by the four pillars of the Corps of Engineers - Combat Engineers, Border Roads, Military Engineer Services and the Survey,” Sinha said.

The Corps of Engineers was raised in 1780 with two companies of the Madras Sappers. Subsequently, other groups in Madras, Bengal and Bombay were formed, which was later merged on November 18, 1932 to form the Corps of Engineers in its present form, the release said.