00:00The IAF that's handed over 39.5 acres of prime land here, Prime Minister's residence at local Yanmarg to the
00:07centre.
00:08Part of a larger land reclamation drive, the move has also raised questions over the future of the decades-old
00:14defence establishment.
00:16Shivani Sharma with this report, take a look.
00:29A 39.5-acre prime land parcel in the heart of Delhi is backed with the Union government.
00:36The Indian Air Force officially handed over its sports complex near the Prime Minister's official residence to the Land and
00:43Development Office.
00:46The move is part of centre's larger exercise to reclaim prime government land around Lok Kalyanmarg.
00:53The handover has been completed on an as-is, where-is basis.
00:59A joint survey by Indian Air Force, Defence Estate Office and LNDO will now verify the exact area of the
01:07land.
01:08Earlier, the government had taken back the 53-acre Delhi Race Club premises and reclaimed the Jaipur Polo Ground from
01:16the India Polo Association.
01:19The closure of the Air Force Sports Complex also meant former IAF Chief A.P. Singh could not hold his
01:26traditional golfing-out ceremony before retiring on October 31st.
01:31The Air Force Sports Complex was part of the Air Force Station on Lok Kalyanmarg.
01:38Established in the 1940s, the Air Force Station has remained under IAF control for decades.
01:44The station supports air headquarters and more than 5,000 personnel.
01:50It has accommodation for married and unmarried personnel, training facilities for airmen and agnivis, medical facilities and other administrative infrastructure.
02:00It also has important air defence assets, including equipment for countering drone threats under the Delhi Integrated Air Defence Centre.
02:09The Air Force Sports Complex is also in the closed vicinity.
02:13The 40-acre land parcel that has now been sealed, the sports complex of the Indian Air Force has been
02:19sealed.
02:19The VIP-89 shield that happens to be the air defence systems, the integrated air defence systems for the Delhi
02:28security, the VIP security,
02:30that also is in that vicinity of the 40-acre land that has now been sealed and will be taken
02:37by the government.
02:38Air Force veterans claim the property is a vital defence establishment.
02:43They ask if land reclamation can come at the cost of strategic priorities.
02:51Veshevani Sharma, Bureau Report, India Today.
