Bombay Engineer Group And Centre: A Saga Of Excellence Since 1866 At Khadki
Pune, September 5, 2020: The Bombay Engineer Group & Centre or “The Bombay Sappers” as it is informally known is a regiment of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army that draws its origin from the erstwhile Bombay Presidency Army of the British Raj. The Khadki Campus is spread over 4000 acres along the Mula River between the Holkar Bridge and Deccan College. Another campus is located 4 km away on Alandi Road near Vishrantwadi.
In the course of last 200 years the Bombay Sappers have earned 31 Theatre Honours and 37 Battle Honours, in addition to the three highest awards for gallantry pre-independence and post-independence ie Victoria Cross, Param Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra. The Bombay Sappers have extended their motto “Sarvatra” well beyond the battlefield, matching the gallantry of the Bombay Sappers in combat and have excelled in a wide canvas of sports and adventure activities.
The Bombay Sappers have excelled in adventure sports like mountaineering, sailing, paragliding, skydiving and white water rafting. They have also made a mark in traditional sports like rowing, gymnastics, hockey, boxing, shooting, weightlifting and in the recent times in Triathlon, winning medals both at national and international levels. In fact very few military or civilian organizations in the country can boast of achievements at the highest levels across such a breadth of activities. From Everest to the South Pole, to circumnavigating the globe to winning medals at the Asian Games across the spectrum of sports, the Bombay Sappers have created an enviable niche for themselves.
The performance of the Group can be attributed to a deep thought of sports policy encompassing selection, training, development of infrastructure and career-long monitoring of sportsmen. At salubrious Khadki, the Centre itself is a hub of training, abuzz with activity, while the triathlon team takes brisk rounds of the campus, the basketballers and volleyball players play on the world-class surface at the Amrit Pal Indoor stadium and Rajauri stadium and the shooters practice at the state of the art shooting range. Intense monitoring and motivation ensure best men in the business get focused and quality training.
As a result, the Bombay Sappers have produced several outstanding sportsmen who have done the Indian Army and the country proud and have been the motivating factor for the budding sportsmen of the group. Subedar Major Amritpal Singh in Athletics, Subedar Gopal Narayan Devang & Subedar Major Shahuraj Birajdar in Boxing, Major General MA Naik & Subedar Jagjit Singh in Rowing, Subedar Katulu Ravi Kumar in weightlifting and Subedar Major Ajit Lakra in Hockey are few of the outstanding sportsmen of the yesteryears who have done the country proud. In the recent times, Naib Subedar Akash Chikte & Naib Subedar Suraj Karkera in Hockey, Naib Subedar Gaurav Solanki in Boxing, Naib Subedar Deepak Lather in weightlifting and Havaldar Biten Singh, Naik Adarsh Mali and Havaldar Bishworjit in Triathlon have been flying the flag of the Bombay Sappers high. 
Award of seven Arjuna Awards for outstanding achievement in sports, two Dhyanchand Awards for lifetime achievements in sports and Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in adventure activity is a testimony to the versatility and skill of “The Bombay Sappers”. Continuing with the traditions, two of the Bombay Sappers sportsmen have been awarded the country’s highest sports awards in the recently announced National Sports Awards 2020. Naib Subedar Dattu Baban Bhokanal has been awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award for outstanding achievements in Rowing and Naib Subedar Lakha Singh (Retired) has been conferred with Dhyanchand Award for lifetime achievements in Boxing.
BEG and Centre, Khadki continues to deliver in all fields of activity and is surely a centre of excellence for a myriad of activities in addition to training recruits into soldiers having valour, wisdom and courage.
